The Astros spent 162 games fighting their way into the postseason. One game in, they are already fighting to stay alive.
Houston fell 6-3 to the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday at Daikin Park, dropping Game 1 of the best-of-three American League Wild Card Series. The Astros now face elimination Wednesday, when Hunter Brown takes the mound in Game 2.
A planned bullpen game went wrong almost immediately. AJ Blubaugh lasted only two-thirds of an inning, Bryan King ran into trouble in the second, and Houston trailed 3-0 before its offense had recorded its second hit.
The Astros eventually showed some life behind a two-run homer from Nelson Velázquez, but Chicago never surrendered the lead.
Blubaugh’s Start Ends Quickly
Blubaugh’s first start of the season lasted just five batters.
He walked Sam Antonacci to begin the game, and Christian Walker’s throwing error on Kyle Teel’s grounder complicated the inning. Another walk loaded the bases before Munetaka Murakami’s sacrifice fly gave Chicago a 1-0 lead.
Blubaugh issued a third walk with two outs, prompting Joe Espada to bring in King. King struck out Tristan Peters to end the inning, leaving Blubaugh with an unusual final line: two-thirds of an inning, no hits, one unearned run, three walks, and no strikeouts.
The White Sox did considerably more damage against King in the second.
Braden Montgomery and Chase Meidroth opened the inning with consecutive singles, and King hit Colson Montgomery to load the bases. Antonacci then lined a two-run single to left, making it 3-0. Teel followed with another single before Espada went back to the bullpen, this time for Miguel Ullola.
Ullola prevented the inning from getting worse, getting a forceout at the plate before striking out Murakami and Andrew Benintendi.
King was charged with two earned runs on four hits while recording only one out.
White Sox Keep Adding On
Ullola settled things down for a while, retiring the White Sox in order in the third, but Colson Montgomery opened the fourth with a solo home run to center that pushed Chicago’s lead to 4-0.
Ullola ultimately gave Houston three innings, allowing one run on one hit with four strikeouts and no walks.
Chicago added another run against Josh Hendrickson in the fifth. Murakami walked, Peters and Braden Montgomery singled to load the bases, and Meidroth brought Murakami home with an infield single. A double play kept the damage to one run, but Houston was staring at a 5-0 deficit.
Meanwhile, the Astros had done almost nothing against Chicago’s pitching staff.
Hagen Smith allowed only two hits over three scoreless innings. Jordan Hicks followed with 1⅓ scoreless innings, and Houston entered the bottom of the fifth still looking for its first run.
Velázquez Finally Breaks Through
Lucas Spence gave the Astros a baserunner with a one-out single in the fifth. After Cam Smith flew out, Espada sent Nelson Velázquez to pinch-hit for Taylor Trammell.
Velázquez delivered.
He drove a Sean Newcomb pitch over the left-field wall for a two-run homer, cutting Chicago’s lead to 5-2 and finally giving the Daikin Park crowd something to celebrate.
The momentum did not last.
Bennett Sousa entered in the seventh and allowed consecutive singles to Murakami and Randal Grichuk. After a sacrifice bunt moved both runners, Sousa threw a wild pitch that brought Murakami home and restored Chicago’s four-run lead at 6-2.
Bryan Abreu worked a perfect eighth, and Josh Hader allowed a single but no runs in the ninth.
One More Chance, Not Enough
Houston made one final push in the eighth.
Jeremy Peña singled with one out, and Yordan Alvarez followed with a single to right that sent Peña to third. After Isaac Paredes struck out, Jose Altuve reached on Miguel Vargas’ throwing error, allowing Peña to score and cutting the deficit to 6-3.
Yainer Diaz struck out to strand Alvarez and Altuve.
Christian Walker drew his second walk of the game to begin the ninth, but Lucas Spence and Cam Smith struck out before Velázquez grounded out to end it.
The Astros finished with six hits and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Velázquez accounted for their only two RBIs with his fifth-inning homer. Peña, Alvarez, Paredes, Spence, Cam Smith, and Velázquez each had one hit.
Chicago collected 11 hits and four walks. Houston used eight pitchers. Blubaugh was charged with one unearned run, King allowed two earned runs, and Ullola, Hendrickson, and Sousa each allowed one earned run.
Before the game, Astros broadcaster and former player Geoff Blum threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Blum has a particularly unusual connection to this matchup: he played for both organizations and hit the go-ahead home run for Chicago in the 14th inning of Game 3 of the 2005 World Series.
One Loss From Elimination
The Astros trail the Wild Card Series 1-0 and must win Wednesday to extend their season.
Game 2 is Wednesday at 4 p.m. CT at Daikin Park. Hunter Brown is scheduled to start for Houston. A win would force a deciding Game 3 on Thursday, with Hayden Wesneski lined up for the Astros.
A loss ends Houston’s season.
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