HOUSTON -- The urgency to win in the final days of the regular season forced the Astros to dig deep into their pitching depth, leaving no stone unturned en route to clinching the American League West division title. The strategy worked, with Houston returning to the postseason for the ninth time in 10 seasons despite an 81-81 record.
The pitching-depleted Astros were also left with no choice but to employ a bullpen game for Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series on Tuesday afternoon instead of starting ace Hunter Brown on short rest. Houston threw eight pitchers at the White Sox, who took advantage of the wildness of AJ Blubaugh in the first inning and knocked around Bryan King in the second inning to send the Astros to a 6-3 loss at Daikin Park.
“It’s already in the past,” Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez said. “I think tomorrow we’re going to hold our heads up and try to extend the series to play Thursday.”
The loss was Houston’s eighth in a row in the playoffs at home, dating to Game 1 of the 2023 AL Division Series.
Brown will get his turn in Wednesday’s Game 2 on four days of rest and will try to keep the Astros’ season alive by forcing a winner-take-all Game 3 on Thursday. Brown is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA in two starts (13 innings) against Chicago this year, striking out 14 batters and walking two.
“I know that they're a really good lineup,” Brown said. “They got a lot of power throughout the order. They can make you work. I've faced them twice this season, so at least I'm familiar with the lineup a little bit. And what's exciting about it is [that] it's postseason baseball. That's all there is to it. It doesn't matter if it's the White Sox or anybody, really.”
Houston will have lefty Bennett Sousa (13 pitches), setup man Bryan Abreu (11) and closer Josh Hader (11) available Wednesday after each threw one inning in Game 1, as well as Tatsuya Imai, who didn’t pitch.
In the history of the best-of-three Wild Card Series, teams taking a 1-0 lead have gone on to win the series 21 of 24 times (88%), including 17 two-game sweeps. Visiting teams have won 12 of 15 series (80%) in which they have gone ahead 1-0, including nine sweeps. However, the most recent rally by a home team that lost Game 1 happened just last year, when the Yankees came back against the Red Sox.
“We know it's a do-or-die [game] and we've been here before, so I really admire how they bounce back and they react to challenges,” Astros manager Joe Espada said.
Blubaugh, who led all Major League relievers in innings pitched this year with 96, walked three of the five batters he faced, giving up a run on a sac fly. He threw 14 balls and 13 strikes in his first career playoff appearance.
“I was trying to be too perfect,” he said. “They took good pitches. Tomorrow I hope I get the same opportunity and they can swing at the same pitches they took tonight. You’ve got to tip your cap and move on and look forward to tomorrow.”
King, who posted a 11.32 ERA and 2.18 WHIP in his final 22 appearances of the regular season (20 2/3 innings), got a strikeout to strand a pair in the first, but all five batters he faced in the second reached base on a hit batter and four singles, including a two-run single by Sam Antonacci that made it 3-0.
“You start counting the outs and it just really puts you in a tough spot,” Espada said. “We were able to keep the game close, couple of hits away from getting back in that game. I thought we battled back after those first two innings.”
Colson Montgomery’s homer in the fourth off Miguel Ullola made it 4-0, and Chase Meidroth rolled an infield single under the glove of third baseman Isaac Paredes in the fifth for a 5-0 lead. The White Sox, who were also using a bullpen game, kept Houston scoreless until pinch-hitter Nelson Velázquez slammed a two-run home run to left field in the fifth inning.
The Astros, who were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, got the tying run at the plate three times in the eighth against closer Grant Taylor, but managed one run on a throwing error. Taylor touched 100 mph three times, struck out five and didn’t allow an earned run in 2 1/3 innings to shut the door.
“They really gave us multiple different arms, different arm angles,” Espada said. “They displayed different repertoires, so I thought they did a nice job of mixing and matching, and we just couldn't really get anything going. So we got to turn it around and we got to get back on track here and get ready for tomorrow. We have Hunter Brown on the mound, the right guy to get us back on track.”