Martin recaptures some early-season magic in return from IL

HOUSTON – The White Sox focus of the Astros’ 2-0 victory Wednesday night at Daikin Park should have been Davis Martin and his stellar return to the mound after a stint on the 15-day injured list with a blister on his right index finger.

There’s no doubt the 5 2/3 scoreless innings thrown by Martin will be noticed. If this is Martin on the mound for his turn every fifth day over the final 23 games, then the White Sox starting rotation grew a great deal stronger moving toward October baseball.​

But postgame talk for the American League Central leaders also focused on missed opportunities costing them against the top team in the AL West.

“Just opportunities that we had and weren't able to cash any of those runs in,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Thought it was a good effort by the guys, really good pitching, really great to see Davis come out coming off the IL and pitch really well. It was really important for us."

“We had a lot of opportunities,” White Sox catcher Drew Romo said. “Our pitching was really good. Davis did great. The bullpen did great. And we had our chances to score on offense. … We had multiple opportunities to score, and we didn’t come through. It’s nobody’s fault in particular. It’s just a collective group thing.”

Hayden Wesneski allowed just one hit over seven innings for the Astros (71-69), with two walks and five strikeouts. But Tristan Peters greeted rookie AJ Blubaugh with a triple to open the eighth, which seemed to set up nicely for the White Sox (73-66), but instead produced the trouble spots.

Sam Antonacci hit a grounder to shortstop Jeremy Peña with runners on first and third and nobody out, which Peña was able to turn, nailing Peters at the plate. Peters did the right thing running on contact, according to Venable, but they weren’t able to advance any of the backside runners with the quick tag at home.

Munetaka Murakami followed with a single to right to load the bases, as Romo, who had walked, was unable to score from second. Miguel Vargas ended the threat on a double-play grounder started by third baseman Isaac Paredes, punctuated by a helmet slam from Vargas as he crossed first.

“A hard-hit ball to right field, just take a look at the right fielder, trying to see,” said Romo of his baserunning on the Murakami single. “If that ball is hit right at him and I take off running without looking, then it’s a double play, and you are asking me the same question.”

Venable and his staff spoke in the dugout about pinch-running for Romo. But they opted for his steadiness behind the plate with the Astros not having scored.

“Definitely a thought and obviously if you go back, probably would have chosen to do it,” Venable said. “But it was a decision that we talked about and thought that we were in a good spot and trusted Drew to make the right move."

Even with their third loss in four games, the White Sox lead stayed at three games over the Guardians in the AL Central and is now 2 1/2 over the Astros for the potential No. 2 seed in the AL. Martin’s mound strength became an even bigger plus.

As of May 16, Martin owned a 6-1 record with a 1.61 ERA and was one of the best starters in the game. Martin returned Wednesday, featuring a 9-6 mark and a 4.32 ERA overall.

In those 15 starts since that airtight opening to the 2026 campaign, Martin had a 6.52 ERA. In fact, Martin had worked three innings total over his two previous starts. But he was in control on Wednesday, striking out three and walking one in 80 pitches.

“I’m going to take it one day at a time,” said Martin, who recorded nine whiffs and 10 called strikes, per Statcast. “That’s what got me out of whatever little situation I was in prior. I was kind of getting in front of my skis a little bit.

“Every day has its own little wins, and I need to make sure I’m checking the box. And if I do that during the week, day five is going to take care of itself.”

That one-day-at-a-time approach has worked wonders with a team holding first place for 81 days. It will be employed yet again in Thursday afternoon’s series finale.

“We give ourselves about five, 10 minutes to process it, to be pissed, to be upset,” Martin said. “There’s nothing dwelling on it is going to do for us, so you wake up the next day and have another opportunity to win a baseball game.”