The White Sox never found much footing in Houston, and a rough mix of shaky defense and quiet bats left them with a 6-3 loss to the Astros in the opener of the four-game set.
Chicago actually got on the board first in the fourth inning and briefly looked like it had something cooking. Colson Montgomery doubled with one out, then Chase Meidroth lined a single to bring him home.
Tristan Peters was hit by a pitch, and a pickoff throw got away, moving Meidroth to third. After Sam Antonacci drew a walk to load the bases, Houston starter Peter Lambert lost the strike zone and walked Munetaka Murakami to force in another run.
Miguel Vargas then ended the inning with a liner to second, but the Sox had a 2-1 lead.
That edge didn’t last long. In the bottom half, Braden Montgomery got caught in between on a Cam Smith liner to right, and the ball skipped past him for a triple. Anthony Kay was clearly rattled, and Nelson Velázquez punished him with a deep homer to left that flipped the game to 3-2, Astros.
From there, Houston kept adding while Chicago’s offense went quiet. In the fifth, the Astros stacked together three singles to load the bases with one out, and Kay couldn’t escape the jam.
Instead of getting the ground-ball double play he needed, he walked in a run. After striking out a batter, Kay was lifted with two outs and Trevor Richards entered, only to give up a double to Smith that pushed the lead to 6-2.
Chicago did put traffic on the bases again later, but couldn’t cash it in. Three walks and a fielder’s choice created another two-out opportunity, and when old friend Bennett Sousa came in for Houston, right-handed pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk ended the inning immediately by sending the first pitch to Taylor Trammell in left.
Colson Montgomery offered one last spark in the seventh, launching a homer to cut it to 6-3. That was as close as the White Sox got. Richards finished his outing by shutting the Astros down, and Houston-area local Tyler Davis worked a clean eighth, with his family in the stands cheering him on.
Chicago kept fighting for a final push, and Meidroth drew the club’s 10th walk of the night with two outs, but Brenton Doyle struck out swinging to end it.
Chase Meidroth finished 1 for 1 with a run, an RBI and two walks, while Munetaka Murakami drew three walks. Richards was sharp in relief with 2 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out two.
Kay took the loss after 4 2/3 innings, giving up six hits and five earned runs with two walks and five strikeouts.
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