White Sox take Game 1 of wild-card series, topping Astros 6-3
HOUSTON — For the opening act, the White Sox and Houston Astros began their American League wild-card series with openers on the mound.
Both bullpens got a workout during Game 1, which the Sox won 6-3 in front of 34,011 at Daikin Park.
Sam Antonacci was a menace to multiple Houston pitchers, going 1-for-3 with one walk, a hit by pitch, two RBIs and one run. Colson Montgomery also provided an offensive jolt, hitting a home run as the Sox took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
Game 2 is at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at Daikin Park.
Antonacci wasted no time getting involved. The left fielder started the game with a walk, advanced to second on a grounder to first and moved up to third on a throwing error by Christian Walker.
Antonacci scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Munetaka Murakami, giving the Sox a 1-0 lead without the benefit of a hit.
Astros opener AJ Blubaugh walked three of the five batters he faced. He allowed the one run, which was unearned, in two-thirds of an inning. A bigger inning eluded the Sox when Bryan King struck out Tristan Peters with two runners on to end the first.
The Sox loaded the bases with no outs in the second against King on singles by Braden Montgomery and Chase Meidroth and Colson Montgomery getting hit by a pitch. Antonacci came through with a two-run single to left, stretching the Sox lead to 3-0.
The Sox loaded the bases a second time in the inning, but Miguel Ullola retired the heart of the order. Miguel Vargas bounced into a force play at the plate. Murakami and Andrew Benintendi struck out.
The Sox still led 3-0 in the third inning when Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez came up with a runner on third and two outs. Alvarez grounded out to Vargas at third base to end the threat.
That was the last batter for Sox opener Hagen Smith, who allowed two hits and struck out one over three scoreless innings.
Colson Montgomery homered to lead off the fourth, making it 4-0. And a run scored on an infield hit by Meidroth in the fifth, increasing the lead to 5-0.
Jordan Hicks followed Smith with 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the Sox. But the Astros got within 5-2 on a two-run home run by pinch hitter Nelson Velázquez with two outs in the fifth against reliever Sean Newcomb.
The Sox got the run back in the seventh, making it 6-2 when Murakami scored on a wild pitch.
David Sandlin pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Grant Taylor gave up two hits and struck out five in 2 1/3 innings. After a leadoff walk in the ninth, Taylor struck out two and got a groundout as the Sox made the all-hands-on-deck approach work.