HOUSTON -- By taking three of four games from the American League Central-leading White Sox, the Astros maintained their lead atop the AL West and now find themselves within striking distance of the No. 2 seed in the AL.
The Astros won their third consecutive series, beating the White Sox, 6-2, on Thursday afternoon at Daikin Park behind six strong innings from right-hander Hunter Brown, a two-run homer by Jose Altuve and a two-run triple by Daulton Varsho.
Houston (72-69), which began the day two games ahead of the second-place Rangers (69-71) and five games ahead of the third-place Mariners (66-74) in the AL West, are 1 1/2 games behind the White Sox (73-67) in the AL standings with 21 games remaining in the regular season. And the Astros own the tiebreaker over the White Sox, winning the season series, 5-2.
The division winner with the second-best record would get the No. 2 seed in the AL, which comes with a bye into the AL Division Series. The third-best division winner would have to play in the Wild Card Series.
Altuve’s 270th career homer, which came off Luis Castillo in the first, put the Astros ahead, 2-0, but the White Sox took advantage of some soft contact to score twice against Brown in the second on four singles, including two infield hits.
The Astros scored four times in the third on an RBI double by Isaac Paredes, a two-run triple by Varsho and an RBI single by Christian Walker, who snapped an 0-for-11 drought with a pair of singles.
Brown threw 101 pitches in six innings, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks, while striking out seven batters. He’s allowed six earned runs across 23 1/3 innings in his past four starts.