Astros 6, White Sox 3: Sox can’t walk to victory

Tonight’s game started a four-game series in a potential postseason preview between the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros. Anthony Kay was looking to bounce back from his previous outing in Texas, as he didn’t make it through five innings in Arlington. For the Astros, Peter Lambert had starting duties.

Missed opportunities with runners in scoring position early hurt the White Sox as Kay once again couldn’t make it through five innings. Despite drawing a season-high 10 walks, the White Sox offense could only muster three runs. Key hits from Nelson Velazquez and Cam Smith helped power the Astros to a 6-3 victory on Monday night.

The White Sox received some luck at the start when Astros left fielder Nelson Velazquez misplayed Sam Antonacci’s line drive. The fielding error allowed Antonacci to start the game standing on second base. Munetaka Murakami hit a mile-high flyout that allowed Antonacci to tag and advance to third base with just one out.

Miguel Vargas seemed to be in a prime spot to give the White Sox an early lead, but Lambert threw a four-seamer by him for a key strikeout. Next was Andrew Benintendi, who got caught looking at a backdoor slider for a backward K, thus ending the early threat.

Houston instead struck first in the third. Nick Allen reached when Vargas made a throwing error, his 11th of the season. After walking Christian Vazquez, Kay was in hot water with Jeremy Peña and Yordan Alvarez lurking.

Pena hit a chopper, two-hopper at Chase Meidroth, who made a clean toss to Colson Montgomery at second base. But Pena hustled out of the batter’s box, and the transition wasn’t quick enough to complete the double play.

Next was Alvarez, who smoked a hard grounder that appeared destined for the outfield. A terrific diving stop by Meidroth prevented that base hit, and as he collected himself off the ground, he made another toss to second in time for an out. However, Alvarez easily reached first base. Allen scored, and productive outs gave Houston a 1-0 lead.

In the fourth inning, both teams plated multiple runs. The White Sox's rally started with a one-out double by Colson Montgomery. He came around to score when Meidroth chipped a low changeup into left field for an RBI single. Next was Tristan Peters, who took a pitch to the elbow to put more pressure on Lambert. After Antonacci walked, it was Munetaka Murakami with the bases loaded. It was a prime opportunity to blow open the game, but Lambert instead didn’t challenge the slugger and proceeded to walk Murakami. That free pass gave the White Sox a 2-1 lead, but Vargas softly lined out to second base to keep the deficit minimal.

Instead, the game took a pivotal turn in teh bottom of the fourth. With two outs, Braden Montgomery tried to make a diving catch on Cam Smith’s line drive to right field. But Montgomery fell short, and Smith cruised to third base for his fifth triple of the season. The single-turned-triple exacerbated a mistake by home plate umpire Mark Ripperger, who didn't see a high and tight pitch hit the knob of Smith's bat on a 1-0 count. The White Sox didn't realize a strike had been called a ball until the count reached 3-1 instead of 2-2, and Kay's attempt to get back into the count resulted in the line drive on which Montgomery unsuccessfully gambled.

Those mistakes then compounded when Velazquez teed off on a Kay fastball for a big two-run homer to left field. The 415-foot shot gave Houston a 3-2 lead.

Later in the fifth inning, Kay got beat by the Death of a Thousand Paper Cuts offensive approach from Houston. Three singles -- one a high fly that hit off the wall of the Crawford Boxes above the glove of a leaping Sam Antonacci -- along with a walk extended the Astros’ lead to 4-2. Despite striking out Daulton Varsho, manager Will Venable pulled Kay with two outs in the fifth inning and bases loaded, instead opting for Trevor Richards to face Cam Smith.

That move backfired as Smith pulled an inside changeup down the left field line for a two-run double. Suddenly, the Astros were up 6-2, and the game felt like it was pulling away from the White Sox.

There was a golden opportunity in the sixth inning. White Sox walked three more times, and one of those was well earned by Vargas, who came back from an 0-2 count. With the bases loaded, the Astros manager went to the bullpen for old friend Bennett Sousa. Venable countered with pinch hitter Randal Grichuk.

Looking for a fly ball deep enough to take advantage of the Crawford boxes in left field, Grichuk’s drive flew too high and short. An ordinary flyout ended the threat.

Colson Montgomery cut the lead down to three runs as he belted his 50th career home run with a solo shot to right field in the seventh inning. It only had a launch angle of 19 degrees, but it had more than enough height thanks to an exit velocity 115.4 mph.

Game Notes

• Colson Montgomery went 2-for-3 with a home run, double, and walked twice
• Munetaka Murakami went 0-for-2 with three walks
• Chase Meidroth went 1-for-3 with an RBI single and two walks
• Anthony Kay's final line was 4.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. His season ERA is now 4.28.
• Tyler Davis pitched a scoreless eighth inning in relief in front of family and friends. He's from Webster, Texas, a suburb of Houston and down the road from NASA Mission Control Center.

Record: 72-65 | Box Score | StatCast