{"id":1036490,"date":"2026-09-01T07:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T07:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1036490\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T07:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T07:12:17","slug":"chicago-white-sox-lose-6-3-to-the-houston-astros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1036490\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago White Sox lose 6-3 to the Houston Astros"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2014 The Chicago White Sox<\/a> were looking to get back in Monday\u2019s game against the Houston Astros.<\/p>\n

The Sox trailed by four runs, but had the bases loaded with two outs in the sixth inning.<\/p>\n

The Astros turned to left-handed reliever Bennett Sousa. The Sox countered with right-handed pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk.<\/p>\n

Grichuk put a good swing on a slider while flying out to left field.<\/p>\n

The big hits didn\u2019t come all night for the Sox in a 6-3 loss in front of 21,236 at Daikin Park. The Sox went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 14 on base while falling in the opener of the four-game series. They drew 10 walks and struck out 11 times in the loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of opportunities that we didn\u2019t just get that big hit,\u201d manager Will Venable said. \u201c(Grichuk) there with the bases loaded, coming off the bench. We\u2019ve seen him come through in that moment a few times. I thought we had good at-bats. (Houston starter Peter) Lambert pitched really well and stayed off the barrel for the most part.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a tough trip around there offensively.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago White Sox starting pitcher Anthony Kay throws against the Houston Astros during the first inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)<\/p>\n

The Astros, meanwhile, made the most of some of their chances. Nick Allen reached on a throwing error by third baseman Miguel Vargas to begin the third inning. He later scored the game\u2019s first run on a fielder\u2019s choice.<\/p>\n

The Sox responded with two runs in the fourth, including a bases-loaded walk by Munetaka Murakami. Vargas lined out to second with the bases loaded to end the inning.<\/p>\n

The Astros went back ahead in the bottom of the fourth, an inning that included a confusing sequence<\/a>. With two outs, starter Anthony Kay\u2019s second pitch to Cam Smith was called a ball. The Sox thought Smith had fouled the inside pitch off his bat. After the fourth pitch, a called strike, Kay asked if the count was 2-2. He was told it was 3-1.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a blown call,\u201d Venable said. \u201cI thought the second pitch that I had it as a foul ball. I\u2019m blocked off so I can\u2019t really see if it\u2019s a foul ball or hit by pitch. It was a foul ball. Once we got deeper in the count, it wasn\u2019t the correct count. Went out there and asked and (the umpire) said he had it as a ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo nothing we can do. Asked for a count check and they weren\u2019t able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith hit the next pitch to right field, just out of the reach of a diving attempt by Braden Montgomery for a triple. The next batter, Nelson Vel\u00e1zquez, homered, giving the Astros a 3-2 lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was pretty clearly a foul ball, I\u2019m pretty sure the umpire said foul ball,\u201d Kay said. \u201cAnd then when I threw the strike and Cam went to go walk to first, there was some discussion about it. And then, maybe it was too late to change or argue at that point.<\/p>\n

\u201cKind of have to throw a ball in the zone, force some contact, I don\u2019t want to walk him. The triple happens and stuff kind of unraveled after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the fifth inning, left fielder Sam Antonacci just missed making a leaping grab on a ball hit to the wall by Isaac Paredes. The single loaded the bases for Christian Walker, who walked to make it 4-2. Smith added a two-run double against reliever Trevor Richards later in the inning, stretching Houston\u2019s lead to 6-2.<\/p>\n

Kay allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits with five strikeouts and two walks in 4 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he pitched better than the line shows,\u201d Venable said.<\/p>\n

Kay added: \u201cOverall, felt like I threw the ball well. Made some really good pitches. That foul ball, no foul ball in the fourth inning changes stuff, too. Makes it 3-1 instead of 2-2. Overall, felt really good. But the results were not there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sox still trailed 6-2 when they missed out on the bases-loaded opportunity in the sixth. Colson Montgomery homered in the seventh, his 29th of the season, to cut the deficit to 6-3.<\/p>\n

Despite some wildness, Houston held on. The first-place Sox (72-65) head into the final month of the regular season with a three-game lead over the second-place Cleveland Guardians (69-68), who were off on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a grind, going through September,\u201d Colson Montgomery said. \u201cThere\u2019s good teams in this division. Just take it one game at a time and I think we\u2019re in a really good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 The Chicago White Sox were looking to get back in Monday\u2019s game against the Houston Astros.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1036491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[197082,21896,960,1274,29987,16388,2382,5386,1818,1822,275560],"class_list":["post-1036490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-anthony-kay","tag-braden-montgomery","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-colson-montgomery","tag-daikin-park","tag-houston-astros","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-sam-antonacci"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117194546935241488","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1036490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1036491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1036490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1036490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1036490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}