Without Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, the Astros lineup is rather thin, especially once a pitcher gets past the first four hitters. Or occasionally three, depending on who is in the outfield. Garrett Crochet and the White Sox pitchers certainly didn’t’ have much of an issue, especially when the highest three hitters in the batting order — Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, and Yainer Díaz — were held to two hits and a RBI with six strikeouts. Four, of which belonged to Díaz alone. Jake Meyers, who hit sixth, actually generated the most damage against Chicago pitcher, hitting a two-run home run in the sixth inning. Jon Singleton had a pinch hit home run in the ninth with two outs. But the lineup, in general, was ineffective against one of the worst teams in baseball. I mean, 16 strikeouts and only drawing two walks, even with Crochet starting, is a disappointment.
To be clear, the Astros need better production from multiple hitters. Altuve, for one, has a sub-.800 OPS on the season. He has to improve. Díaz has been a reliable source of offense as of late, not including tonight’s golden sombrero. Peña hitting cleanup, however, is borne more out of necessity than anything else. Again, without Tucker or Bregman, it doesn’t take long to see a dropoff in production in this lineup.
I also think Houston has to determine where does Chas McCormick fit on this team now, especially if/when Tucker returns. Hitting ninth in this game, with a .551 OPS, is a precarious fall compared to his performance in recent years. Even his outs aren’t impressive, with his lineout in the third topping out with an 81.5 mph exit velocity and a 56.8 mph exit velocity on his groundball in the sixth.
For the White Sox, it was basically the Luis Robert Jr. show. Responsible for four of Chicago’s five runs, the center fielder made it tough on Spencer Arrighetti and Houston’s bullpen. Of course, it doesn’t help matters when Robert Jr. has a four-seam fastball there in the zone.
Arrighetti wasn’t at his best in this one, allowing four runs in only four innings on seven hits and two walks. There was also five strikeouts, but the rookie right-hander needed 93 pitches to generate 12 outs. Not his most efficient start, unfortunately. But the bullpen, even with some ineffectiveness, held the White Sox to only a run in the final five frames. This point isn’t something to brag about, but it at least provided an opportunity to come back into this game, which happened but fell just short of winning this game.
Thankfully, the Astros didn’t lose any of their lead in the AL West race, with both the Mariners and Rangers losing. Hunter Brown gets the start on Saturday and hopefully he is able to avoid a losing streak.