Martin impresses early, but sixth-inning struggles doom White Sox

CHICAGO – Davis Martin had an explanation for what happened to the White Sox during a 9-5 loss to the Astros in Friday’s homestand opener at Rate Field.

The right-hander’s depiction centered squarely upon an eight-run sixth inning for Houston that erased a 5-0 White Sox lead.

“It's baseball. Baseball happened,” Martin said. “It sucks.”

Martin allowed three hits through five scoreless innings, striking out Jeremy Peña to strand two runners in the fifth. But things changed in a less than demonstrative way for both teams in the sixth. Here’s a look at some of those key plays.

Yordan Alvarez’s leadoff single

The White Sox held the American League Triple Crown leader and odds-on MVP favorite to just this one single in four at-bats, although he did score two runs.

“You keep him in the yard?” Martin said. “That’s great.”

Isaac Paredes hit by pitch

Paredes was next up in the sixth and became one of seven batters hit by a pitch in this game. Of course, the White Sox San Antonacci was one of them, giving him an American League-best 19. The original call on Paredes was the baseball hit off the bat, and the White Sox went through with their defense for a double play.

Houston’s challenge produced an overturned call and two runners on and nobody out.

“[Manager] Will [Venable] was in the dugout, and was like, ‘Finish the play,’ so we just did it,” Martin said. “Obviously, we were like, ‘How lucky can we be tonight?’ But I knew it was probably a hit by pitch. Just trying to get geared up for the next guy, make a pitch.”

Bryan Hudson enters vs. Christian Walker

LaMonte Wade Jr., who was with the White Sox in Spring Training and played for their Triple-A affiliate at Charlotte, singled home a run off Martin and kept the bases loaded with nobody out in a 5-1 game. The left-handed-throwing Hudson was warming up when the left-handed-hitting Wade was at the plate, but Venable brought him in to face the right-handed-hitting Walker a batter later.

Walker pulled a double just inside the third-base line to clear the bases and cut the margin to 5-4. Third baseman Miguel Vargas looked as if he thought the ball could have been foul, but Venable said that was not challengeable.

“That’s a good spot where we are thinking that Huddy against anybody, lefty or righty, is a good person to pick up. It’s a big spot there,” Venable said. “When you give up eight runs in that spot, going into that inning, probably a decision that I made or something that I missed there.

“As far as the timing with Huddy, there’s an argument for a batter before. Davis is in a good spot. He hadn’t given up a run yet. Huddy is our guy. Somebody you trust in every situation. It’s one of those where something along the way didn’t drop him in right, and obviously they were able to capitalize and score a bunch of runs.”

The lead evaporates

Cam Smith, who was acquired before last season from the Cubs in the Kyle Tucker trade, completely erased the five-run deficit with a two-run blast off Hudson. Hudson allowed a Peña single and an intentional walk to Alvarez, then Seranthony Domínguez entered and gave up a Paredes walk, Jose Altuve’s infield single and a walk to Wade, and suddenly, it was 8-5 Astros.

Hudson entered with a 1.35 ERA over his last 13 1/3 innings and saved Wednesday’s victory in Texas. Sometimes it’s just not the bullpen’s night.

“Everyone understands stuff happens, and we just have to move on and continue to do what we do – don’t reinvent the wheel,” Martin said. “Continue to do what we do well, and that’s [that] our bullpen has been shoving.

“Look at the whole road trip we just had; you can credit a lot of those wins to the bullpen. Just got to pick each other up and get back to it tomorrow.”

A look ahead

Martin felt great physically, striking out three and not issuing a walk. The process was great for the right-hander, even if the results weren’t exactly what he wanted with his ERA rising to 6.06 over his last seven starts.

“Now just continue to press, continue to get better,” Martin said. “Just finish off innings and empty the tank a little better next time.”

The White Sox (54-48) hold a 1 1/2-game lead over the Guardians (54-51) in the AL Central, a 4 1/2-game lead on the Twins (51-54)a five-game lead over the hard-charging Tigers (50-54). It was one of those nights Friday, one which the White Sox don’t expect to repeat.

“Baseball, right?” Martin said. “No one’s in the locker room freaking out, saying, ‘Oh my gosh.’”