Jordan Lyles (1-1, 4.97) vs Chris Sale (7-2, 2.30)
The Astros and White Sox were actually in a pitchers duel with a scoreless game heading into the bottom of the 5th, but you would never know it from the final score. The White Sox scored 5 in the 5th, 1 in the 6th and tacked on 4 for good measure in the 8th to beat the Astros in a laugher by a 10-1 score. The Astros now drop to 25-34.
*Jordan Lyles was a bit of a mixed case again. He made some great pitchers, forcing hitters to chase bad pitches and ground out weakly, and he left some balls up allowing guys to hit them hard. In the end he finished with a line of 4.1 IP / 7 H / 5 R (4 ER) / 3 BB / 0 K. He took the loss and drops to 1-2. Cedeno and Carpenter threw scoreless innings. Cruz got hit hard and gave up 4 runs. Lyon collected the last out of the evening.
Observations:
*Jed Lowrie stayed red hot with his 3rd homerun in 3 straight games, his 12th of the year. It came when the game was already well out of reach in the top of the 9th.
*The Astros as a unit struck out 9 times and didn't walk once. They only collected 6 hits. All of that discipline the Astros had at the plate to start the season is now gone, and it's showing up on the score sheet as a lack of baserunners and a lack of runs.
*The Astros only had one runner in scoring position the entire evening. They went 0 for 1 with RISP.
*Brian Bixler got a start in LF and collected a single just past a diving Alexei Ramirez.
*Not much to write home about tonight. Chris Sale is very good. His delivery is deceptive and he is very efficient. He reminds me of a young, not quite as hard throwing Randy Johnson. A very good young pitcher who deserved the win today.
Turning Point:
The 5 run 5th in what had been a 0-0 tie until that point was more than enough to bury the Astros today.
Man of the Match:
Jed Lowrie went 2 for 4 and drove in the Astros only run with his 12th homerun of the year.
Goat of the Game:
The pitching was, by all accounts, a complete disaster yet again. Lyles takes the blame here for his 5 runs (4 earned) allowed.
