The White Sox came to Houston with the best record in baseball.
They'll leave Houston tied fifth after their first four-game losing streak of the season, which also took the shape of a four-game sweep at the hands of the Astros. Only one of the four games were close, and it wasn't this one.
Whatever chance Dallas Keuchel might've had to keep the Sox in this game was spoiled by comically bad defense, because the offense maintained the average of what it scored all series -- two runs.
There's good news from here. The White Sox still lead the AL Central by 2½ games because Cleveland could only split the series with Pittsburgh, and rough weekends like these are why you build a 4½-game lead in the first place. The White Sox also get two off days next week around a two-game set with those same Pirates, with a lighter slate to follow.
But they'll be licking their wounds from this series. Yoán Moncada committed his third first-inning error of the series by pegging Chas McCormick with a throw from third on a relatively routine charging play. The Astros turned that extra out into a run, and they used a botched rundown by the White Sox to catapult to a five-run third that essentially decided the game a third of the way through.
In that play, Michael Brantley went from first to third on a single by Carlos Correa. Correa rounded first a little too generously as the throw came into third, and Moncada made an on-target throw to José Abreu that trapped Correa in a pickle.
Correa survived, partially because he extended the rundown to four throws. José Abreu flipped the ball to Danny Mendick, who chased Correa back to first. He got rid of the ball earlier than he'd like, except he saw that nobody had covered first, so he wanted to get the ball to Abreu before Correa passed him.
Correa turned back to second, where Abreu flipped to Tim Anderson. Anderson was keeping an eye on Correa in front of him and Brantley to the side, which left him no eyes remaining to track the ball, which clanged off his glove for an error and put runners on second and third.
Because of the error, Yordan Alvarez's single scored two instead of one, which gave the Astros a 3-2 lead instead of a mere tie at 2. Two more hits made it a 4-2 game, and while Keuchel got Martín Maldonado to pop out, a walk to Myles Straw loaded the bases, and another walk to Jose Altuve drove a run in.
Matt Foster came in, but he walked Chas McCormick for another run before he got a groundout that brought the inning to a merciful end. Foster gave up a solo shot in the fourth, and Zack Burdi was bled for a run in the fifth before Houston called off the dogs.
Jake Lamb provided the White Sox's only runs with a two-run shot off Lance McCullers Jr. in the top of the third, which briefly gave Keuchel and the Sox a lead at 2-1. The Sox didn't tally a hit until Brian Goodwin doubled with two outs in the ninth. They could only muster walks, but three of the four were leadoff walks that were immediately erased by double plays. The lefties Lamb and Goodwin both reached base twice off McCullers and two Astros relievers. Nobody else helped.
