Charlie Tilson's stats at Charlotte (.333/.396/.475) have been encouraging because he was logging an extra-base hit once every 11 at-bats, which demonstrated gap power he's never shown before. However, his stint in the majors hasn't reflected that, with just two doubles in 55 plates appearances this season and just four extra-base hits in 178 career PAs in the show.
None of that wound up mattering tonight.
With the bases loaded, two outs, and a 4-3 White Sox lead in the sixth, Tilson turned on a 98 mph Josh James fastball for a majestic no-doubter to right. It was his first career home run, and boy did he choose the timing well. The grand slam gave the Sox a rare comfortable lead against Houston that they wouldn't relinquish.
The game certainly didn't have the look of a favorable blowout early on. Astros starter Gerrit Cole generally induced weak contact and (uncharacteristically) ground balls for most of the first four innings, but there were a couple important exceptions. In a rare command slip, he threw a fat 2-2 slider over the middle of the plate to Eloy Jimenez in the second inning and Jimenez made him pay by drilling a deep homer just left of center. In the fourth, Abreu blasted a similar-looking slider over the wall in center to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. At the time, those solo shots represented the only two Sox baserunners.
On the other side of the ball, Nova was able to frustrate the high-powered Astros. Double plays were Nova's friend, as they erased a plunking of Alex Bregman in the first and an infield single in the second. However, the Sox defense helped him take that recipe to the extreme in his first sign of trouble.
The Astros' first batted ball off the ground was Tony Kemp's poked liner down the right field line for a leadoff single in the third. Nova followed that up by plunking Robinson Chirinos. Just when it looked like the wheels were about to come off, Jake Marisnick shot one on the ground to Moncada at third. The hot shot took Yoan directly to the bag for the force and then Sanchez made a great turn at second base to barely nail the speedy Marisnick for the triple play. It was the first White Sox triple play since 2016.
Alas, the second time through the order was not as kind to Nova. Bregman got revenge for that first inning beanball by hitting a moonshot to the Crawford Boxes in left. Then, Michael Brantley slapped a single under Abreu's glove at first and Carlos Correa smacked an RBI double into the right field corner, taking third on the failed relay home. A sacrifice fly then gave the Astros a 3-2 lead, their first of the game.
The Sox would fight back in the sixth. Leury Garcia sliced a leadoff double down the left field line, and Moncada (not bunting!) cashed him in with a well-struck single through the right side. With Moncada moving on the pitch, Abreu was able to inside-out a soft low liner into right to make it first and third. James McCann then chased Cole from the game by clobbering a low 2-2 fastball over the head of Brantley in left-center, scoring Moncada and giving the Sox runners on second and third with nobody out.
That sticky situation fell to reliever Josh James. Steve Stone prophetically highlighted James' control problems when introducing him and sure enough, he promptly walked Yonder Alonso to load the bases. James preserved the 4-3 score through the next two batters, as Jimenez grounded into a 5-2 force out and Tim Anderson swung and missed three times. Fortunately, Tilson prevented the Sox from making a mess of a golden opportunity and picked up his teammates with the aforementioned grand slam.
Bullet Points (It's a rare recap for me, so I'm making lots of them)
- In a change of pace, Nova's start was neither a disaster nor a gem. His final line: 7+ IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 3 K, 1 BB, 2 HBP, 1 HR. That's a lot of baserunners, but it works when you get the grounders to induce three double plays and a triple play. It was the first time in ten starts that he allowed between two and four runs.
- Anderson was doubled off first base in the fifth on a deep fly ball to left center by Yolmer Sanchez. Facing a 3-2 deficit, it wasn't the worst gamble to put himself in position to score, but Marisnick made a nice running catch over his shoulder to spoil the play.
- Jimenez put the cherry on top in the eighth inning with his second solo home run of the night. This time, he got on top of a high fastball and took it out to right-center.
- On the minus side, Jimenez looked pretty bad in left field when he let Reddick's flare fall in front of him to lead off the eighth. It looked like he misplayed it, and Statcast gave it a 8% hit probability.
- Josh Osich retired three straight Astros after Nova (and Jimenez) allowed the first two Astros to reach in the eighth.
- The recently recalled Thyago Vieira allowed two hits and a walk around one strikeout in the ninth, which forced Rick Renteria to call upon Alex Colome to finish the job.
- This was the first White Sox win against Houston since September 21, 2017. They had dropped nine straight to the Astros.
Record: 22-26; Box Score
