Astros 7, White Sox 1: Swept, and thoroughly

Here’s how this series went: The White Sox dropped this game by six runs, and it was by far the most competitive game of the series.

The problem was that Reynaldo Lopez could only go five innings. He departed with the game tied at 1, but a bullpen that’s both thin and overexposed couldn’t keep the game within reach.

The Astros swept the series, outclassing the Sox by a combined score of 27-2.

At least the White Sox can say they led at some point. They went ahead 1-0 in the second inning after back-to-back two-out doubles by Matt Davidson and Yolmer Sanchez.

They mounted another threat against Lance McCullers Jr. in the third, but a bad send by Nick Capra short-circuited it. Yoan Moncada reached with a one-out walk and moved to second on Avisail Garcia’s second infield single of the day. Jose Abreu went the other way and shot a single to right, and Capra sent home Moncada on Josh Reddick’s arm. The throw beat Moncada by plenty, and while a terrific dive almost bailed out the third-base coach, the review didn’t show a conclusive angle of Moncada’s hand touching the plate before the tag.

The send would’ve been acceptable with two outs, as he’d probably count on Moncada scoring at better odds than Nicky Delmonico reaching base safely. With one out? Not so much. As it played out, Delmonico’s subsequent fly ball didn’t achieve anything, and the Sox didn’t really threaten the rest of the day.

That left the White Sox pitching staff the thinnest margin to work with, and it didn’t hold up. Lopez’s command was shaky from the start, but he pitched his way out of trouble through four. He couldn’t strand George Springer’s leadoff double in the fifth, as two productive outs led to the Astros’ first run.

Lopez scattered four hits and four walks over his five innings, which consumed 100 pitches. In came the relief corps, which survived the first frame. Gregory Infante pitched the bullpen’s lone 1-2-3 inning, a remarkable feat since it was he was pitching for a first-second-third consecutive game.

But Aaron Bummer gave up a flare single to Jake Marisnick to start the sixth. It was the only batter Bummer faced, and yet it was enough to hang the loss on him. Bruce Rondon looked like his old self by throwing just 11 of 25 pitches for the strikes. He allowed a run on two hits and two walks before he departed, leaving the bases loaded for Nate Jones. Jones gave up a ground-rule double on the first pitch, and a manageable 3-1 deficit had turned into the third straight rout.

Rondon’s struggles might be traced to the inning before, as the game got chippy in the bottom of the sixth. McCullers plunked Sanchez in the ribs after doing the same to Welington Castillo earlier in the game. Sanchez, who reached base his first two times up, wasn’t pleased, and umpires briefly considered a warning.

Tim Anderson followed by hitting a grounder to short (on a 3-1 pitch after a foul ball on 3-0), and Sanchez came into second base hot in case Jose Altuve lingered over the bag. Altuve smartly stepped aside after getting the force and watched Sanchez pop up past him.

Rondon has a history of taking revenge into his own hands, and he missed inside twice to Springer has he started his unsuccessful outing. It’s possible he just didn’t have his good stuff after a career-long outing his previous time out, but his stare at Springer might’ve tipped his hand.

Bullet points:

*Sanchez reached base all four times.

*The flu game, lowercase:

https://twitter.com/JRFegan/status/988173262172688384

Record: 4-14 | Box score

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