Lance McCullers bit by the no-command bug
Tonight, Wild Lance McCullers took to the mound for the Astros. No matter that his opponent, the last-place Chicago White Sox, had only won six road games before tonight. When this version of Lance shows up, bad things happen.
McCullers managed to survive five innings, but gave up four runs on four hits, but, most importantly, also four walks. He only had 51 strikes out of 96 pitches, but his six strikeouts kept the game within reach.
Maybe it would have been better if Luis Roberts Jr. hadn’t played tonight. Coming into tonight, Roberts was hitting .177, but historically, he feasts on Astros pitching, and tonight was no different. He plated the Sox’s first run in the second inning with a two-out double after a McCullers walk, and that, with his solo homer in the fourth, accounted for half of Chicago’s runs.
Needless to say, the Astros bullpen — tonight it was Bennett Sousa, Shawn Dubin, and Caleb Ort — held the Sox, and with any luck, the Astros’ bats could have overcome the early deficit. The Astros had nine hits, seven against rookie starter Shane Smith, and struck out only five times. However, they ground into three double plays and were only 1-6 with runners in scoring position. In the eighth inning, the Astros had the bases loaded with no outs but only scored one run on a Yainer Diaz sac fly. After that, Christian Walker struck out and Jake Meyers flied out on a hard hit line drive caught by Roberts at his shoestrings.
The Astros have won only one out of four games against the last-place White Sox. They play again tomorrow at 7:10. Ryan Gusto is scheduled to pitch for the Astros.