Chisox in quick 2-0 ALDS hole
lead with three runs in the fifth. Luis Robert and José Abreu each hit an RBI single, and Yasmani Grandal added a sacrifice fly.
But the Astros tied it in the bottom half on Yuli Gurriel’s two-run single. It was the first hit of the series for the AL batting champion.
The loss drops the AL Central champion White Sox to 0-6 in Houston this season. They are trying to avoid another early postseason exit after they were eliminated by Oakland in the first round last year.
Robert and Tim Anderson had three hits apiece. Abreu, who had been slowed by flu-like symptoms, had two hits and drove in a run.
White Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito permitted four runs and three hits in 4 innings. He tied a season high with five walks in his second career playoff start.
Giolito threw complete games in his previous two starts against the Astros, including a three-hitter in a 10-1 victory on July 17.
Houston’s bullpen shut down the White Sox after the early exit by Valdez, with five relievers combining for 4 innings of four-hit ball. Ryne Stanek (1-0) worked the seventh for the win.
Alvarez, who homered and drove in two runs in Game 1, has been great for the Astros in his return to the postseason. The 2019 AL Rookie of the Year returned this season after being relegated to watching the team’s playoff run on television last year after having surgery on both knees.
KAAT APOLOGIZES
MLB Network broadcaster Jim Kaat apologized during Friday’s AL Division Series game between the Astros and White Sox after saying teams should try to “get a 40-acre field full of” players who look like Chicago infielder Yoán Moncada.
Kaat, a former All-Star pitcher and longtime commentator for the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins, made the remark in the first inning of Game 2 in response to a comment from broadcaster Buck Showalter about Moncada, who is Cuban.
“After the first time I saw him in the big leagues, I looked around the dugout, like, ‘Do we have one of those?’” said Showalter, who opposed Moncada while managing the Baltimore Orioles.
Kaat replied: “Get a 40-acre field full of them,” a remark that reminded some viewers of the unfilled promise by the U.S. government that freed slaves would receive 40 acres and a mule following the Civil War.
The 82-year-old Kaat apologized during the fifth inning.
“Earlier in the game when Yoán Moncada was at the plate, in an attempt to compliment the great player that he is, I used a poor choice of words that resulted in an insensitive and hurtful remark,” he said. “And I’m sorry for that.”