In a battle of Lances, Lance McCullers Jr. and the Houston Astros out-pitched Lance Lynn and the Chicago White Sox. McCullers pitched 6.2 scoreless innings alongside a balanced attack from a deep Houston lineup led by Yordan Alvarez, which gave the Astros a 6-1 victory over Chicago in Game One of the ALDS.
Astros White Sox Game One
It Was All Houston
The scoring began in the second inning when rookie Jake Meyers singled in Alvarez. It was the first of four consecutive innings that the Astros scored in. In the third inning, Alex Bregman scored Jose Altuve on a fielder’s choice. Alvarez immediately followed with an RBI double to deep center. Houston chased Lynn from the game with a big two-run single off the bat of Michael Brantley in the fourth inning. The Astros gave one more blow to the White Sox with an Alvarez solo home run-off reliever Reynaldo Lopez in the sixth inning.
McCullers and the Astros pitching staff kept Chicago’s intimidating lineup in check all day. The lone White Sox run came in the eighth inning when Jose Abreu singled in Tim Anderson. Astros closer Ryan Pressly labored a bit but ultimately pitched a scoreless ninth inning to end the game 6-1.
Despite only punching out four White Sox batters, McCullers was dominant. He gave up only four hits in his 6.2 innings. The veteran led the AL with 76 walks in the regular season, but he did not walk a single soul in Thursday’s impressive win.
The Lance on the White Sox side, however, did not find the same success. Lynn’s final pitching line read five runs in 3.2 innings on six hits and two walks. Lynn has historically struggled against these Astros too. In 14 career appearances against Houston, he has a 4.41 ERA entering Thursday.
The pitching matchup in Game Two will feature Lucas Giolito for Chicago and Framber Valdez for Houston.
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