HOUSTON -- Sam Antonacci tripped while running out of the dugout during pregame introductions for Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series between his White Sox and the Astros on Tuesday at Daikin Park.
That misstep was pretty much the only one encountered by Chicago during a 6-3 victory over the American League West champions. With another win on Wednesday or Thursday, the White Sox would claim their first playoff series victory since a four-game sweep of the Astros in the 2005 World Series, with staff ace Sean Burke set to start against Hunter Brown, Houston’s No. 1, on Wednesday.
A victory in either of these next two days would send the White Sox to Cleveland for a best-of-five AL Division Series. The Guardians won the AL Central by one game, despite the White Sox winning the season series, 7-6.
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.
But anyone who has followed Chicago this season understands the White Sox aren't going to get ahead of themselves.
“Our mindset is we’re taking it as though we’re 0-0,” Antonacci said. “A lot can happen, and they have really good arms. We're trying to win each pitch, and hopefully, that will help us win each inning and ultimately win the ball game. Just trying to compete at a high level every game.”
“We can’t be thinking about the end of the game tomorrow,” catcher Kyle Teel said. “It’s just an inning at a time, a pitch at a time, and I feel that’s the way to be successful.”
Tuesday was a bullpen game for both teams: by choice for the White Sox, and more out of necessity for the Astros. Houston used their main starters against the A’s over the weekend to win the AL West, which they needed to do to lock in a playoff spot.
The strategy worked much better for the visiting South Siders on Tuesday.
Rookie Hagen Smith pitched three scoreless innings, allowing only two hits. He struck out one but used his four-pitch mix to record seven swings and misses, according to Statcast. He retired Yordan Alvarez with two outs and a runner on third to end the third inning. Alvarez, a frontrunner for the AL Most Valuable Player Award, is 4-for-23 with one extra-base hit against the White Sox this season.
“Really, really good. Attacking the zone,” Teel said of Smith. “You could tell he wanted the ball.”
“Kyle did a great job game-planning for me, and [I trusted] him back there,” Smith said. “Just kind of attacking it with everything. A lot of cutters and sliders and just kind of attacking with those a lot early, and heaters here and there.”
Meanwhile, opener AJ Blubaugh could not find the zone for Houston, throwing just 13 of his 27 pitches for strikes. The Astros needed two pitchers to get through the first inning, although they combined to allow just one unearned run.
Colson Montgomery hit ninth for the first time this season, two days after talking about using the playoffs as a reset after setting MLB's single-season record with 227 strikeouts. That reset was real, as Montgomery launched a Statcast-projected 432-foot home run in the fourth off Miguel Ullola.
“He had a good fastball, so I had to be ready,” Montgomery said. “I felt ready. I felt on time with everything, and just the last pitch, I was probably more committed to what I was trying to do. Two strikes, you kind of lock in a little bit more.”
Four pitchers took the mound after Smith, with Sean Newcomb yielding Nelson Velázquez’s two-run pinch-hit blast in the fifth. David Sandlin worked 1 1/3 innings before giving way to Grant Taylor.
Taylor threw a career-high 54 pitches, covering 2 1/3 innings with five strikeouts. One of those strikeouts came to end the eighth, when Yainer Diaz took a called third strike on a 3-2 curve.
Braden Montgomery added two hits and scored once, as did Chase Meidroth. As for Antonacci? He drove home two with a single after scoring the game’s first run and also got hit by a pitch in the sixth. He set the single-season franchise mark with 27 HBP in 2026, so it only makes sense.
Let’s go back to that original dugout trip involving Antonacci. The White Sox have had plenty of fun while winning this season, sometimes to excess. So naturally, Antonacci later claimed the stumble was staged.
“There may have been some money involved. Just like I may have been Spider-Man,” said a smiling Antonacci, referring to a rumor that he went to see Spider-Man: Brand New Day with Miguel Vargas, dressed as the superhero. “We’ll never know.”
“That’s the word on the street,” Taylor said of Antonacci’s stumble. “It looked a little too real.”