Joe Espada rolled out a true Sunday lineup for Houston today, thinking a Framber Valdez-Ky Bush pitching matchup could be sufficient to carry the Astros to a series win over the White Sox.
He was mostly right. Valdez steamrolled the White Sox offense over seven easy innings, leaving the last two innings for the best of the bullpen. He just needed Valdez to be that good, because Ky Bush came within a Yainer Diaz solo shot of matching him over six.
Nevertheless, a win is a win for Houston, and a loss is a loss for the White Sox, who are now 30-95 and have gone 13 consecutive series without a win.
Bush took the "L" for his best work yet, as he allowed just the one run on four hits and three walks over six innings. It was impressive considering his velocity lagged for most of the game. He came out sitting 90-91, but he allayed some concerns by throwing a little bit harder over the second half of his afternoon, rather than tailing off even further.
He compensated with command of all his secondary offerings. He was able to throw both breaking balls for strikes, deploy different looks multiple times through the order (he used his curveball early, and leaned on his slider later). That took stress off his fastball, which still had enough deception to avoid getting punished.
Of course, he should also thank Dominic Fletcher for helping him find his footing. Bush almost trailed 3-0 after three batters when Diaz followed consecutive singles with a deep fly to right, but Fletcher pulled the ball back from the first row and returned the ball to the infield quickly enough to preserve the double play. Bush capitalized by getting Jake Meyers to ground into a 6-4-3 to end the inning.
Two innings later, a Miguel Vargas error and a walk put runners on first and second with two outs for Diaz, and while Diaz shot a single to right, Fletcher charged it hard and made a strong throw home to force the stop sign. Meyers then flied out to center, so Bush once again escaped.
Diaz would not let the Sox deny him three times, because Bush started him off with three sliders to lead off the sixth, and the third one ended up in the Crawford Boxes for the game's first run. It wasn't a terrible pitch in isolation -- it was actually a little in off the plate -- but it was more hittable than the two that came before it, especially the slider he swung over on 1-0.
Bush should've probably fared worse than he did, whether it's because of the timely defense or underpowered lineup, but after walking 12 batters over his first 8⅔ innings, this was the first outing that suggests sustainable success is possible -- especially if the velocity comes all the way back.
Jose Altuve added a solo shot off John Brebbia in the eighth, but that wasn't necessary. The White Sox only managed four baserunners against Valdez, Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader, and none of them advanced into scoring position. In fact, two were eliminated by double plays. The White Sox have now been shut out 14 times this season.
Bullet points:
*Fletcher went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in a rare start against the lefty, but validated his presence with the two plus plays in the field.
*Luis Robert Jr. went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, so he's not out of the woods yet.
