ASTROS DOWN WHITE SOX
The Astros sensed their scoring opportunities running out in the seventh inning Sunday afternoon. A pitchers’ duel and a tie score encouraged Marwin Gonzalez to try something he had not done successfully in his previous 732 major league games.
Jose Altuve’s fourth-inning home run, his ninth of the season, represented Houston’s only hit through six innings, and Dallas Keuchel’s only fly ball on a day he induced a season-high 16 groundouts let the White Sox tie the game at 1 in the seventh.
Yuli Gurriel responded immediately in the bottom of the seventh with a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice fly by Josh Reddick.
Gonzalez approached the plate in a 4-for-29 slump. He fell behind 0-2 in the count to Lucas Giolito.
On the third pitch, Gonzalez
squared around for a bunt. Gurriel eased into a sprint home.
Gonzalez deadened a high fastball toward first base for the first 0-2 sacrifice bunt of his career, which let Gurriel score the decisive run in the Astros’ 2-1 win.
The victory puts the Astros a season-high 30 games over .500. Altuve’s blast in the fourth gives the team 15 consecutive games with a home run.
After reaching a nadir this season with a 13-hit shellacking from the Rangers on June 10, Keuchel (6-8, 3.95 ERA) has three wins and a 2.59 ERA in his last five starts.
The lefthander has incorporated more changeups lately. Nearly half of his pitches to the White Sox were off-speed, which made the sharpness of his sinker more effective.
Ground balls undid the several jams he encountered in six of his seven innings. He allowed six hits and three walks but stranded seven baserunners.
“I felt like I got away with a few things,” Keuchel said. “It was kind of just surviving all day.”
A sacrifice fly almost spoiled his latest gem.
After Keuchel started the seventh with a single and a walk, Adam Engel bunted the runners into scoring position. Tim Anderson drove a sacrifice fly to right field, which drove in Yoan Moncada as the tying run.
Gonzalez failed to lay down the bunt on the first two pitches from Giolito in the seventh. According to manager A.J. Hinch, an attempt with two strikes is up to the batter.
“He needs to get the run in — period,” Hinch said.
In his career, Gonzalez had laid down a sacrifice bunt with a runner on third base nine times. None came with two strikes. Desperation informed his decision down 0-2.
“I was thinking, ‘I have to do my job,’ ” said Gonzalez, who is batting .228. “I decided to try again one more time.”
In the eighth, Collin McHugh worked around a hit batter to continue his dominant season out of the bullpen. He fanned Leury Garcia on three pitches for his 55th strikeout in 42 innings and lowered his ERA to 0.86.
Hinch expressed regret that he had not started using McHugh in high-leverage situations earlier in the season.
“Collin’s probably the hottest pitcher in the league coming out of the bullpen,” Hinch said.
Sunday was only the second start this season in which Giolito (5-8, 6.59 ERA) limited a team to fewer than two runs.
Whereas McHugh pounded his glove on a slow march to the dugout, Giolito jogged out for the eighth and wound up slapping his mitt in frustration.
Tony Kemp got to Giolito with a broken-bat single flared to left field and a steal of second base. Kemp had the third and final hit for the Astros.
Kemp reached third base, but Joakim Soria struck out Alex Bregman swinging and Altuve looking to end the threat.
Hector Rondon struck out two batters in a perfect ninth inning for his seventh save. He has allowed one run in his last 19 appearances.
The Astros dominated the White Sox in their seven matchups this season. In sweeping the seven games, Houston outscored them 56-16 and batted .317 (77-for-243) with 18 doubles and 10 home runs.
Sunday was a narrow but gratifying finish.
“The ability to win a game maybe you shouldn’t win,” Hinch said, “is a good feeling.”