The Chicago White Sox are straight-up not having a good time in Houston this weekend.
Lance Lynn had his worst start of the season, giving up six runs in just four innings of work, the White Sox offense continues to sputter, and Robel Garcia’s three-run double in the third inning broke the game wide open as the Houston Astros cruised to a 7-3 victory.
It was a busy first inning for Lynn. Yoan Moncada tried to make a highlight play on Jose Altuve’s grounder, but he made another errant throw this series. Altuve reached second base on the error and later advanced to third base on Yuli Gurriel’s single. With runners on the corners, Lynn’s cutter bounced away from Yasmani Grandal, resulting in a Wild Pitch as Altuve scored the game’s first run.
The White Sox had a chance to tie or go ahead in the second inning. With Grandal on first base after hitting a single, Andrew Vaughn’s slow grounder put Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez in an awkward spot. Valdez attempted a fadeaway throw which sailed wide of first base and into foul territory. Grandal reached third and Vaughn scooted to second base. Next was Leury Garcia, and in three pitches, he struck out swinging, ending the threat.
Yoan Moncada did not miss his opportunity to tie the game. Adam Engel hit a single to right field in the third inning with two outs. Moncada’s at-bat appeared that Valdez struck out Moncada looking, but home plate umpire Alex Tosi didn’t pull the trigger. Catcher Martin Maldonado had to reach across the plate to receive the pitch, which may have influenced Tosi’s non-strike call. With a robot umpire, Moncada would have been out.
Thankfully, Moncada made the most of his second life by hitting a double to deep left field, driving Engel from first base. It’s Moncada’s 14th double of 2021.
New life was given to the White Sox but was quickly taken away again by the Astros. Altuve again was the offensive catalyst as he hit a screamer down the left-field line for a double. Michael Brantley followed that up with an RBI single, and it was Astros 2-1. Then things got worse for Lynn with two outs. Yordan Alvarez singled, and Carlos Correa walked to load the bases setting the stage for Robel Garcia.
On 3-2, Lynn tried to beat Garcia with a four-seam fastball. Instead, the line drive went over Garcia’s head in right field off the wall, and suddenly the Astros had a four-run lead.
Brantley made it a 6-1 game with an RBI double over Andrew Vaughn’s head in left field scoring Myles Straw in the fourth inning. Lynn had troubles with the Astros during his Rangers days, and those carried over to this start. Despite striking out six, Lynn got beat up, throwing 84 pitches in four innings and finishing with a line of 4 IP 7 H 6 R 5 ER 1 BB 6 K.
The White Sox did generate some offense in the seventh inning. Vaughn hit a solo home run for his sixth dinger of the season.
Danny Mendick kept the offense rolling with a single and tagging up on Tim Anderson’s deep flyout, reaching second base. On a bounced pitch from Valdez, Mendick made a valiant attempt trying to steal third base on Maldonado, who is well-known for his ability to throw out base runners. This time, though, Maldonado’s throw sailed over the third base into the outfield, allowing Mendick to score.
Vaughn had a chance in the eighth inning to tie the game. Moncada and Grandal both singled, but the rookie couldn’t duplicate his magic from the previous inning. Vaughn popped out to Correa, ending the threat.
In the bottom half, Correa hit a monster home run to right field, his 13th of the season. That was off Jose Ruiz, who would later leave the game with an apparent injury. As if the game wasn’t already painful enough.
Game Notes:
- Ryan Burr threw two scoreless innings taking over for Lance Lynn.
- Moncada, Grandal, and Vaughn had multi-hit games as they counted for six of the team’s eight hits.
- Tim Anderson, Jose Abreu, and Yermin Mercedes were hitless.
- Pittsburgh scored six runs in the seventh inning to beat Cleveland. The White Sox still maintains a 3.5 game lead in the AL Central.
