James McGrand secures the series win in a wild 13-9 finish

In a game of ups and downs and lots of runs, the Chicago White Sox prevailed in a nail-biter, 13-9, taking this series (and the season series) from the first place Houston Astros.

And it feels pretty darn good.

The Astros opened up the scoring in this afternoon’s offensive affair. In the first inning, Michael Brantley hit a bloop double that Eloy Jiménez misread. Alex Bregman then doubled Brantley home to give the ’Stros an early 1-0 lead. The lead would quickly expand to 2-0, as Sox starter Ross Detwiler gave up a solo shot to Yuli Gurriel, who has been red-hot of late.

The bottom of the second inning was absolute madness for the South Side. Jiménez was safe at second on a two-base error by Gurriel. Welington Castillo then doubled Jiménez home to get the White Sox on the board. Adam Engel followed with a single to shallow left, pushing Castillo to third and taking second on the play. Yolmer Sánchez then laid down a pretty mediocre a sacrifice bunt, which nonetheless allowed Castillo and Engel to score as Wade Miley airmailed the throw home on an ill-advised glove flip.

The scoring wouldn't stop there, as Jon Jay and Tim Anderson followed with back-to-back singles. TA7’s single scored Sánchez to give the Sox a lead of 4-2 by the end of the second.

Detwiler found himself in some trouble again in the third inning. George Springer, Jose Altuve, and Brantley combined for three consecutive singles to load the bases with nobody out. Bregman and Yordan Alvarez would follow with back-to-back RBI groundouts to tie the game, 4-4.

The Sox would take the lead again in the third inning. James McCann led off with a single, and Jiménez doubled him home. Ryan Goins then grounded into a double play, but Eloy was still able to score, tacking on another run to narrow the lead to 6-4.

Wade Miley would again find himself in some more trouble in the fourth inning. A leadoff walk to Sánchez was followed up with a ground rule double from TA7 (which was originally ruled a triple, but then was overturned due to a dead ball call). That knocked out Miley, who clearly didn't have his best stuff today, and the Sox were able to take advantage. Colin McHugh relieved, surrendering an Abreu sacrifice fly, plating Sánchez to make the game 7-4.

Miley went just 3 ¹⁄₃ innings, giving up nine hits, although only three of the seven runs were earned due to two errors. Big Boss Ross would come out for the fifth, but only got two outs before Jimmy Cordero came in to relieve him.

Cordero was solid out of the pen for 1 ¹⁄₃ innings, giving up three hits and one earned run. In the sixth inning, Gurriel (again) smashed a solo shot. The Sox were able to answer back in the sixth as Anderson doubled for the second time, and Abreu was able to drive TA7 home with a single.

Things got hairy yet again in the seventh inning. Cordero gave up a single to Altuve, so Aaron Bummer came into the game. Combined singles from Brantley and Bregman scored Altuve. Carlos Correa walked to load the bases, and Gurriel singled, cutting the Sox lead down to one, making the game 8-7. Bummer got out of the inning on a Aldemys Díaz double play.

In the seventh inning, Jiménez hit an absolute bomb to dead center to get a run back, pushing the South Side lead to 9-7.

Though this blast cleared the center field wall by plenty, per Christopher Kamka, it was only Jiménez’s sixth-longest home run of the season.

Evan Marshall was called in to pitch the eighth, and Jake Marisnick launched a ground rule double followed by Altuve tying the game with a two-run blast. With that, Ricky called in Josh Osich, who gave up a double and was immediately taken out of the ballgame. Alex Colomé was tasked with the final two outs of the inning, and he got the job done.

Now, time for the fun to start.

Ryan Pressly was in for the Astros to start the bottom half of the eighth. Sánchez hit a one-out single, and Anderson hit a single for his fourth hit of the day! Abreu walked to load the bases, and James McCann stepped up to the plate with an opportunity to be the hero. McCann, on an 0-2 count with two outs, launched a grand slam for the game-winning runs, making the final score 13-9!

What. A. Game.

Ride or die with this team.

The White Sox now head to Anaheim to play the Los Angeles Angels for a four-game series. Reynaldo López gets the start against Andrew Heaney. NBC Sports Chicago will broadcast the 9:07 CT game, WGN has the radio, and Janice Scurio will have your coverage ... somewhere.

Let’s keep it exciting!