White Sox dominate Game 1 in Houston

HOUSTON – For the young Chicago White Sox, postseason baseball may be a new experience, but baseball isn’t. On Tuesday afternoon at Daikin Park, the White Sox hitters played the same game they’ve played since they were kids. 

The atmosphere was surely different though. The pro-Astros crowd of 34,011 tried to make Chicago uncomfortable with jeers and judging of every move White Sox manager Will Venable made.

Nonetheless, the White Sox silenced the crowd quickly with their early offensive surge. 

The bright lights and the orange-filled seats didn’t seem to shake the team from Chicago’s Southside. Their experience from previous big games that range from the amateur to collegiate level prepared this young squad for the big moments. 

“Yeah, I just feel like when you’re young and you’re hungry and you’re competitive and you’re in a scenario like this, it’s kind of like one of those things where you go out there and play,” Colson Montgomery said. 

“You go out there and you compete. You don’t overanalyze a lot of things. You kind of just go out there and do what you know, and that’s play baseball. We’ve all been playing baseball for our whole lives, so in our eyes this is, you know, something that’s not anything different.”

Bullpen battle

Both teams matched each other with bullpen games, and put their Game 1 on rookie pitchers. Hagen Smith got the best of AJ Blubaugh and the Astros. Smith, who appeared in only 18 games this season, threw three scoreless innings, allowing only two hits. After Smith, Venable deployed four other relievers, each with a different arm angle. 

The different arm slots and styles of pitching the White Sox showcased limited the Astros’ top hitters. Houston’s first six hitters mustered three singles and two walks over 22 combined at-bats. 

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A Nelson Velasquez pinch, two-run homer was the only mistake the White Sox’s pitching staff made. Conversely, for most of the Astros it was a tough day at the plate. 

“Yeah, I thought that that was the difference in the game,” Astros manager Joe Espada. “They really gave us multiple different arms, different arm angles. They displayed different repertoires, so I thought they did a nice job of mixing and matching, and we just couldn’t really get anything going.”

Offensive execution

The White Sox were patient early before scoring three runs in two innings. Chicago scored in four of the first five innings. They had the leadoff hitter on in six of the nine innings, and had only two one-two-three innings. 

The Chicago offense executed their gameplan to perfection. 

“Yeah, I think in a big way, you know, and they understand that this is a new season and it’s really a one-game season at a time here,” Venable said. “We know we have a series. We want to go out and win the series, but it starts with just playing one game, and I thought these guys in their focus and how they prepared we wanted to keep things as close to the regular season as possible and not have too many complex messages for them, and I thought they responded really well.

“The coaching staff did a really good job of getting them prepared. So, yeah, really good stuff and the understanding that this is a new season and a new opportunity.”

The White Sox haven’t won playoff series since they swept the Astros in the 2005 World Series. They eye to close out the best-of-three Wild Card series on Wednesday afternoon.