Astros 13, White Sox 3: Good team destroys bad team on national TV

The Chicago White Sox are underperforming on all cylinders, and the Houston Astros exposed it this evening, just like they did in the 2021 postseason. The saddest part? Nothing changes.

Lucas Giolito didn’t have a smooth start. In the first inning, Gio allowed a Michael Brantley single, and Alex Bregman took a ball deep to left-center field for a two-run, opening-inning home run.

Unfortunately, the early damage didn’t stop there. An inning later, Yuli Gurriel took the ball over the around-the-league scoreboard for a quick, 3-0 Astros lead.

However, the White Sox found a way to quickly claw back from a three-run hole. Seby Zavala doubled past a diving Alex Bregman to lead off the third, and Danny Mendick followed with a single. Up to the plate came AJ Pollock, delivering a blast to right-center field for a 3-3 tie in the third.

How did Giolito respond to his team picking him up? He pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the third.

The South Siders had a chance to tack on another run in the fourth, following a double and single, but Super Joe McEwing sent Leury García around third as Yordan Álvarez already had the baseball and was loading the throw to home. With two outs in the inning, Leury was out at the plate by a mile, and it’s been ridiculous how many poor sends the Sox already have had this year for outs at the plate. On the bright side? The single put Seby Zavala at 2-for-2 in the early part of the night. (OK, not that bright.)

After his early struggles, Lucas settled down quite well as he recorded three straight shutout innings. Entering the sixth inning at the 67-pitch mark, that changed. Gio walked Bregman, and Yordan rocked a single to right. Andrew Vaughn fired a throw to Josh Harrison at third, and it shot right past Josh and Gio, backing up. The baseball trickled into the Sox dugout, and Bregman was awarded home plate for a 4-3 Astros lead.

Houston would not relinquish this lead.

From there, Kyle Tucker recorded an RBI double, which scored Yordan. After Lucas loaded the bases with zero outs, Tony La Russa came in with the hook, and Matt Foster entered the game.

Although Gio had thrown a minimum of pitches, the third time through the order dismantled the momentum he’d built after the early innings.

Foster allowed an RBI single to Chas McCormick, and two strikeouts later, Michael Brantley hit an utter moonshot for a grand slam and a 10-3 lead.

Oh, but it didn’t stop there. The Astros would continue to tee off of Foster and Tanner Banks, including a Yordan two-run homer and Tucker solo shot.

Yep, the Astros put up a 10-spot in the sixth. It was the first 10-run inning recorded by any team in the majors in 2022.

The White Sox are SO HARD to watch right now (at least, against any competent ball club). Credit to the Astros for dominant pitching and an explosive offense. Things simply won’t change for the Sox until firings occur and players perform to their abilities. This team is embarrassing, and it sucks to admit it. We did not suffer the 2010s to get to this point and fail miserably. The window is still open, but it won’t be for long.

Banks pitched scoreless seventh and eighth innings, and the Sox offense did nothing in the middle and late innings.

The Astros embarrassed the White Sox 13-3 this Friday night.

Tomorrow, future Hall-of-Famer Justin Verlander (8-2, 1.94 ERA, 3.12 xERA) takes the mound against future salsa dancing instructor Johnny Cueto (0-3, 3.53 ERA, 3.62 xERA) at 3:10 p.m. CT on NBC Sports Chicago.

It’s going to be a long weekend.