The Chicago White Sox walked out of Thursday with another loss, dropping the finale against the Houston Astros 6-2 and missing their chance to split the four-game set. The game turned quickly, and Luis Castillo was at the center of it again.
Castillo opened by striking out the first two hitters, but the trouble arrived fast after that. He walked Isaac Paredes, then left a letter-high fastball for José Altuve, who punished it and helped Houston jump out to an early 2-0 lead. Chicago answered to tie the game in the top of the second, but the bottom of the third blew it open with four runs for the Astros.
The right-hander’s final line was rough: six hits, six runs, two walks and three strikeouts across just four innings. His ERA climbed to 5.57 on the season and 7.52 with Chicago. The bullpen did enough to keep the game from getting even uglier, but the White Sox offense never recovered from the hole Castillo created.
Tyler Schweitzer worked two shutout innings, Trevor Richards added a scoreless frame, and José Urquidy came in for a surprise appearance in the bottom of the eighth and shut Houston down. That outing could point to Drew Thorpe taking Urquidy’s place in the rotation.
The bigger picture is starting to look uncomfortable for Chicago. The deal that brought Castillo to the White Sox is looking worse by the day, especially with Boston Smith still mashing. At some point, the question becomes how long the leash really is for Castillo, even with the size of his contract.
Chicago had its best chance in the second inning, when it put together its only hits with runners in scoring position all game. That was it.
The White Sox finished 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position on Thursday after going 1-for-7 in Wednesday’s shutout loss. They totaled seven hits in the game, and Miguel Vargas accounted for two of them.
Munetaka Murakami had another quiet night, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Over his last 30 games, he is hitting .136/.291/.318 with 50 strikeouts in 110 at-bats, and his slump is becoming another headache for this offense. With the postseason inching closer, Chicago needs him to turn it around fast.
The White Sox now move on to Minnesota, where they’ll face the Twins on Friday at Rate Field. Erick Fedde is set to start against Zebby Matthews.
Matthews last faced Chicago and threw 8.1 innings while allowing one run, and he has given up just three runs over his last 21 innings. Fedde gave up two runs in five innings in his last start in Minnesota, and he’ll try to keep his recent strong run going in a game Chicago badly needs.
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