Astros 6, White Sox 4: Bullpen still searching for answers against Houston

Sometimes in baseball, it's all about hitting where they ain't. 

The Houston Astros had 11 base hits, with only five registering as hard contact (Exit velocity greater than 95 MPH). Well-placed looping liners and grounders finding the open holes within infield positioning hurt White Sox pitchers. Despite a late rally in the ninth inning, the White Sox fell again in Houston, losing 6-4. 

Lucas Giolito felt the sting of bad BABIP luck in the first inning. He allowed four hits with the following exit velocities:

• 70.2 MPH
• 82.1 MPH
• 89.5 MPH
• 62.6 MPH

That last single was from Chas McCormick, who put the Astros ahead 2-0 early. Despite throwing 23 pitches and getting BABIP'd around, Giolito would recover nicely. He only allowed one more unearned run thanks to a Yoan Moncada throwing error on a David Hensley grounder. Andrew Vaughn's stretch to make the catch while keeping a foot on first base was short, and Hensley reached second base. Jeremy Pena would cash in that mistake with a two-out RBI double. 

Giolito got through five innings, and his final line was 5.0 IP 5 H 3 R 2 ER 1 BB 6 K on 97 pitches. 

White Sox did have a lead at one point, thanks to Moncada and Seby Zavala. Moncada hit his first home of the campaign in the second inning, going opposite field into the Crawford boxes that just made it over the wall. A good use of taking advantage of the short porch, even batting left-handed. 

Zavala's smash was an absolute no-doubter, and he knew it. Marveling at his work, Zavala watched his 105.4 MPH EV 389-foot home run that might have flown further if it didn't hit the brick wall behind the bleachers. His two-run shot gave the White Sox a 3-2 lead. 

But as we witnessed on Friday night, the White Sox bullpen has been shaky. 

Joe Kelly made his first appearance of the season, replacing Jimmy Lambert, and dealt with a runner in scoring position and two outs. Being showered by boos from the Houston faithful and Zavala committing a passed ball, Kelly punched out Corey Julks to keep the game tied. 

Pedro Grifol stuck with Kelly to start the seventh inning, and he got two quick outs as Pena grounded out and Alex Bregman flew out. Then Yordan Alvarez drove a liner over Andrew Benintendi's head to left field, resulting in a long hit single. Next was Jose Abreu, and in typical fashion seen often with the White Sox, he got enough to drive Kelly's breaking pitch through the infield for another single. 

Next was Kyle Tucker, who is having one heck of a series so far. In this situation, after Jake Diekman failed last night, Grifol tried using Jose Ruiz. During the World Baseball Classic, Ruiz was used in similar situations, and his power changeup helped get tough left-handed hitters out, like Juan Soto. That's what Grifol was hoping for in that at-bat. 

Ruiz fell behind 3-0 to Tucker but got the count full. Doubling up on another changeup, this time dropping out for the strike zone, Tucker chipped that pitch for another single to right field. He probably couldn't throw it any better as it traveled with an exit velocity of 71.2 MPH, and Houston took a 4-3 lead. 

It didn't get better in the eighth inning. Ruiz hit Yanier Diaz with a pitch, and Julks singled to center field. After Pena flew out, Grifol swapped Ruiz for Gregory Santos with one out, and he got Bregman to fly out to right field. Again, the White Sox needed one more out to escape the jam.

Sure enough, Alvarez didn't fail in the moment. This time Alvarez blasted a single to center field with a 109.8 MPH exit velocity making it 5-3. Abreu would follow a similar path next, and the Astros picked up more two-out RBIs leading 6-3. 

In the ninth inning, the White Sox did put together a rally. Eloy Jimenez's RBI single made it 6-4, bringing up Moncada as the go-ahead run with runners on the corners. But Hector Neris's splitter dropped off the table as Moncada swung through.

Game Notes: 

• White Sox bullpen today: 3.0 IP 6 H 3 ER 2 BB 2 K
• Tim Anderson went 2-for-5 and he’s now 6-for-13 in the series
• Eloy Jimenez went 1-for-3 with an RBI and two walks
• Luis Robert had multiple web gems but none better than robbing Kyle Tucker of extra bases

Record: 1-2 | Box Score | StatCast