Thank goodness for the Blue Jays. Their 11-0 blanking of the Cleveland Guardians was in the books halfway through this one, which will make it a little easier for the White Sox to sleep tonight after suffering vapor lock in both halves of the eighth inning.
In the top of it, they had runners on the corners with nobody out, and bases loaded with one out, and couldn't convert on either. In the bottom half, a Chase Meidroth error-turned-hometown-single forced Sean Newcomb to record four outs, and he could only take care of three before Nelson Velazquez's two-run single to center put a save situation in Josh Hader's capable hands.
At least they can say it didn't cost them a third of their division lead, and now they'll look to salvage a split on Thursday.
Tristan Peters came up a couple feet short of a solo shot off A.J. Blubaugh to lead off the eighth, and while Daulton Varsho got caught too close to the fence and let the carom get past him for a stand-up triple, it turned out the White Sox needed the ball to clear the wall.
Drew Romo followed with a walk to turn over the lineup, but it didn't help. First, Sam Antonacci hit a weak bouncer to a drawn-in Jeremy Peña at short. There probably wasn't an opportunity to turn two because of the positioning and Antonacci's speed, but Peters broke home unconvincingly as if in defense of it, and Peña cut him down by steps for the first out. That mattered, because when Munetaka Murakami followed with a palpable hit to right field, Romo's catcher speed could only get him to third after a hesitant read. And that mattered, because Miguel Vargas followed by grounding into a 5-4-3 double play to keep the game scoreless.
When the Astros came to the plate, Newcomb got Peña to fly out to center, but Yordan Alvarez followed with a hard grounder to second that deflected off Meidroth's backhanded attempt and into center field. It was initially called an error, but whether it was the exit velocity being 106.7 mph or Alvarez gunning for the triple crown, the official scorer reversed the call on a play that should've been made.
Newcomb couldn't overwrite it. He walked Isaac Paredes, and then "hit" Jose Altuve with a 1-2 sweeper down and in. It was the second of two calls Altuve sold on the night, and while the replay didn't produce an angle convincingly showing contact, it apparently didn't show the ball clearing his back foot, and so the call stood to load the bases.
(The only reason this call isn't a bigger turning point is that it would've been a wild pitch putting runners on second and third with one out had the HBP not been granted originally. The White Sox almost lucked into a ball two with no runners advancing with an overturned call, but to no avail.)
The Astros had flopped with runners in scoring position before, and Newcomb handcuffed Varsho into a soft comebacker that produced a force at home for the second out. But Houston still had one bullet left with Nelson Velazquez, and with only righty Tyler Davis providing backup in the bullpen, Will Venable stuck with Newcomb, who allowed a two-run single to center that decided the game.
Prior to that, both sides had squandered the few opportunities they generated. The White Sox had runners on first and second with one out in the second, but Hayden Wesneski jammed Meidroth into a soft liner to second. Altuve had the ball clip off the end of his glove, but unlike an attempt by Antonacci in Seattle earlier in the season, Altuve was smooth enough with his catch failure that he was able to get the force at second, then get Andrew Benintendi after rundown at third for a double play.
An inning later, Peters led off with a single and stole second, but Romo struck out, and after an Antonacci walk, Murakami and Vargas made soft outs to bring the inning to a meek close.
That Peters single was the only hit allowed by Wesneski over seven innings. He only struck out five, but the White Sox's attempt to ambush him resulted in quick outs, and his sweeper remained hard to tag.
Davis Martin had to navigate more traffic, but he posted a triumphant return just the same. After so many ugly beginnings, Colson Montgomery made a diving stop and long throw to retire Paredes and close out a 1-2-3 first for Martin, and Martin took it from there. He scattered five hits and a walk over 5 ⅔ innings, defusing a pair of Astros threats.
In the fourth, Alvarez led off with a double -- more of a single that Braden Montgomery couldn't block with a sliding attempt -- and moved to third on an opposite-field single by Paredes. But Martin got Altuve to pop up a high sinker, got Varsho to swing over a curve for a strikeout, and watched Taylor Trammell turn a first-pitch fastball into a routine fly to left that ended the threat.
An inning later, Peña singled with two outs to put runners on first and second for Alvarez, who almost inside-outed a first-pitch fastball into the Crawford Boxes, but came up about 10 feet short.
If Martin has any regrets, it's probably his only walk of the game, which was issued to Varsho with two outs in the sixth on his 80th and final pitch of the night. Venable went to Newcomb rather than risk Martin facing Velazquez for a third time. It worked in the sense that Newcomb got a flyout to secure a scoreless start for Martin, but then Newcomb had to face Velazquez a second time in the eighth, and that didn't go as well.
Bullet points:
*The White Sox have been shut out 10 times this season.
*Newcomb hadn't allowed an earned run in 20⅓ innings entering this game. That streak should still be active, were it not for the generous scoring.
*The White Sox were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. The Astros were 1-for-8 before Velazquez came through, and finished 2-for-10.
*Tommy Pham made his 2026 debut with the White Sox, pinch-hitting for Benintendi against Hader and grounding out to short in the ninth inning.
