CHICAGO – The White Sox lost their fourth straight game Wednesday night, as the Houston Astros won another close game at U.S. Cellular Field. Mat Latos struggled again, as his ERA is heading in the wrong direction fast. Here is the recap:
Scoring Summary
1st Inning (Top): Jose Altuve led off the game with a soft single into right field. George Springer walked, putting runners on first and second. Carlos Correa would then line a hard single to right, scoring Altuve and advancing Springer to third. Correa would steal second in the inning, however the Astros would not score again. 1-0 Astros headed to the bottom of the 1st inning.
1st Inning (Bottom): Adam Eaton hit a ground ball down the third base line for a single, however was thrown out at second attempting to stretch the play into a double. Jimmy Rollins then came to the plate, and drilled a ball off the right field fence for a double. With Rollins on second, Jose Abreu hit a ground ball through the right side for an RBI single. The next batter Todd Frazier walked, however Melky Cabrera hit into a double play to end the inning. Tied at one after one.
2nd Inning (Top): With one out, Jason Castro singled into left field. Tony Kemp then doubled down the left field line, with Castro reaching 3rd (could have been out had Frazier caught the ball on Cabrera’s throw). Altuve then grounded out to second, however Brett Lawrie had a play at the plate (would have had Castro out), but chose to go to first instead. Latos would retire Springer to end the inning. 2-1 Astros headed to the bottom of the 2nd inning.
4th Inning (Top): Once again, Jason Castro and Tony Kemp reached base back-to-back with one out (would be on 1st and 2nd respectively). Jose Altuve would pick up his second RBI of the game with a ground ball through the left side, scoring Castro. Latos would get out of the inning with no more damage. 3-1 Astros headed to the bottom of the 3rd inning.
5th Inning (Top): Colby Rasmus led off the inning with a solo home run. Latos would not give up any more runs in that inning. 4-1 Astros headed to the bottom of the 5th inning.
6th Inning (Top): Jason Castro homered to begin the inning. Once again, no more runs would score for Houston. 5-1 Astros headed to the bottom of the 6th inning.
6th Inning (Bottom): After Jose Abreu was retired, Todd Frazier reached on a bunt single. Melky Cabrera then drilled a triple into the right-center field gap, scoring Frazier. Neither Brett Lawrie nor Avi Garcia were able to score Cabrera. 5-2 Astros headed to the top of the 7th inning.
7th Inning (Bottom): Dioner Navarro lined a single into right to get things started for the White Sox. Austin Jackson then flew out, however that would be the end of the night for Astros starter Doug Fister. Ken Giles then came on, and promptly walked Adam Eaton. Jimmy Rollins softly popped out to center field, however Jose Abreu drove home Tyler Saladino (who pinch ran for Navarro), cutting Houston’s lead to two. Todd Frazier came up representing the go-ahead run, however flew out to end the inning. 5-3 Astros, which would be the final score of the game.
Escape Act/Defensive Gem
This must be awarded to the same play. For the second time in less than two months, the White Sox turned a triple play. After walking the first two hitters in the top of the 8th inning, Dan Jennings induced a 5-4-3 triple play to end any threat the Astros had of scoring. Even though the Sox lost the game, this is still the one play that sticks out, due to the rarity of it.
Notables
Jose Abreu: 2-4, 2 RBI’s
Melky Cabrera: 2-4, 1 RBI
Dioner Navarro: 2-3
On Deck
Thursday 7:10 PM Chicago White Sox (24-16) vs Houston Astros (17-24)
Probables
Chris Sale (8-0 1.67 ERA) vs Collin McHugh (4-3 5.58 ERA)
Broadcast Info
TV: CSN/ Radio: WLS 890
Sources
http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=cws