{"id":52671,"date":"2025-07-09T23:58:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T23:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/52671\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T23:58:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T23:58:10","slug":"adrian-houser-a-bona-fide-hurler-in-chicago-white-sox-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/52671\/","title":{"rendered":"Adrian Houser a bona fide hurler in Chicago White Sox win"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Chicago White prepare to celebrate the past this weekend with the statue ceremony for Mark Buehrle and the 20th reunion of the 2005 World Series champions, the future remains a guessing game.<\/p>\n

Will the Sox be able to deal struggling star Luis Robert Jr. before the trade deadline? Can Colson Montgomery become the player<\/a> the Sox envisioned when making him their 2021 first-round draft pick? Is manager Will Venable capable of showing displeasure over the team\u2019s losing? And is the rebuild progressing at a fast enough pace for future owner Justin Ishbia\u2019s liking?<\/a><\/p>\n

Some things we may never know, but it never hurts to ask.<\/p>\n

The Sox are 31-62 after Wednesday\u2019s 2-1 win over Toronto, snapping the Blue Jays 10-game winning streak before an announced crowd of 11,123 at Rate Field.<\/p>\n

Starter Adrian Houser \u2014 general manager Chris Getz\u2019s best in-season pickup, as well as his most obvious trade bait \u2014 pitched seven strong innings, allowing one run on five hits for his fifth win, while Grant Taylor and Jordan Leasure finished it off with two scoreless innings.<\/p>\n

Houser shrugged off a first-inning stomach issue, throwing up in the dugout afterward and going on to win his third straight start.<\/p>\n

\u201cPuke and rally,\u201d he said in a T-shirt-ready quote.<\/p>\n

Houser admitted it was \u201cabout the fifth time\u201d in his career he became physically ill over a start, which makes him an empathetic figure to fans who also have gotten sick over many a Sox performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nothing new,\u201d Houser said. \u201cThe trainers knew. I told them when I came in, \u2018Hey, this is a possibility.\u2019 Once I get it out, it\u2019s all good. Ready to rock \u2018n\u2019 roll.\u201d<\/p>\n

The way Houser has pitched this season, maybe the rest of the White Sox staff should follow suit. The puke-and-rally strategy just might be what the Sox needed to turn their season around. Nothing else has worked, including the Pope wearing a Sox cap. <\/a><\/p>\n

But until the Sox can put together a weekslong stretch of winning baseball, it\u2019s going to be one step forward and two steps back in the rebuild. Former Sox third baseman Todd Frazier once said during the Rick Hahn rebuild in 2017 that the Sox needed to change the terminology from \u201crebuild\u201d to \u201crefuel,\u201d but no matter what it was called, something had to be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t won in a long time, so what\u2019s the worst that can happen, I guess?\u201d Frazier said.<\/p>\n

The same could be said of Getz\u2019s Rebuild 2.0, in which the worst that could happen already happened last year. So the Sox might as well relax and play without fear the rest of the season, with nothing to lose but their lunch.<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. makes a sliding catch against the Blue Jays during the fourth inning on July 9, 2025, at Rate Field. (Michael Reaves\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

This month could be the end of the line in Chicago for Robert, who came off the IL on Tuesday<\/a> and spoke with the media before Wednesday\u2019s game. Robert basically said the same things he has been saying for more than a year about the possibility of being dealt \u2014 it\u2019s out of his hands and he has no preference about staying or going. No one really believes he wants to stay, but that\u2019s his line and he\u2019s sticking to it.<\/p>\n

Is Robert tired of being asked about being dealt for a year and running?<\/p>\n

\u201cNot really,\u201d he said through an interpreter. \u201cI don\u2019t even feel like you guys ask me enough about it. It\u2019s just something that\u2019s not on my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the first time in 38 years covering baseball that I had heard a player say he hasn\u2019t been asked enough about possibly being traded, so now I can say I\u2019ve finally heard everything.<\/p>\n

The game started 12 minutes late because of a pregame drizzle, then the humidity was turned down and a cool breeze came in off the lake. The Sox treated the ball like it was kryptonite early on. Houser botched a bunt from Tyler Heineman in the second that brought home a run and was scored as an infield hit. Third baseman Miguel Vargas let an infield popup drop in the second, then muffed the pickup before recovering and getting a forceout at second.<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery, left, tags out the Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at second during the sixth inning on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, at Rate Field. (Nam Y. Huh\/AP)<\/p>\n

Venable explained that Vargas let it drop on purpose to have Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as a base runner, though he was fortunate to get the out at second. Moments later, Houser\u2019s pickoff attempt eluded first baseman Tim Elko, who was called up Wednesday when Brooks Baldwin was placed in the 10-day IL with a lower back strain. Chase Meidroth\u2019s throw eluded Montgomery, and Guerrero took off for third when he saw no one covering the base. But Houser got there and tagged Guerrero out, ending the wacky inning.<\/p>\n

The Sox grabbed the lead in the fourth on Edgar Quero\u2019s RBI double and Lenyn Sosa\u2019s run-scoring single, and Houser put up zeros from the third through the seventh, lowering his ERA to 1.56 in nine starts. The last time the Sox snapped an opponent\u2019s 10-game winning streak was in 2008, also against the Blue Jays.<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite Sox starter Adrian Houser delivers against the Blue Jays during the fourth inning on July 9, 2025, at Rate Field. (Michael Reaves\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Houser isn\u2019t the kind of pitcher who likely will command a top prospect at the deadline. But he has been one of the best starters in baseball since joining the Sox, and at this point he may be more valuable to a contender than Robert, whose power mysteriously disappeared after his 38 home run season in 2023.<\/p>\n

Houser repeated his mantra on being Sox trade bait.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever, it\u2019s out of my control,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just here to pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not quite as catchy as \u201cpuke and rally,\u201d but it will have to suffice.<\/p>\n

Since Getz has said he doesn\u2019t intend on dealing some of the young players, the Sox don\u2019t have much to offer.\u00a0Starter Aaron Civale also figures to go, though he has a 5.85 ERA over his last four starts and might not draw much interest after Tuesday\u2019s poor outing in a 6-1 loss to the Jays.<\/p>\n

Houser has been a good influence on the Sox staff, much like Garrett Crochet was last season before he was dealt in the winter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cKind of hoping he was going to be an All-Star,\u201d Leasure said of Houser. \u201cBut I think for him to come in and do that has been really impressive. We all love him as a person too. He\u2019s been a great guy to have around.\u201d<\/p>\n

He might not be around much longer, but at least Sox fans will always remember the way Houser hurled on a memorable afternoon against the Jays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Chicago White prepare to celebrate the past this weekend with the statue ceremony for Mark Buehrle…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":52672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[21049,960,1274,21052,5386,1818,13247,39333],"class_list":{"0":"post-52671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-adrian-houser","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-white-sox","11":"tag-edgar-quero","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-illinois","14":"tag-luis-robert-jr","15":"tag-trade-deadline"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114825992967633480","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52671","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=52671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}