The Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox will continue a four-game series on Tuesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field. Chicago picked up a 4-2 win on Monday night to open the set, cashing in as a +110 underdog. Houston still owns the best record in the AL at 75-42, while the White Sox are two games out of first in the AL Central at 60-56.
These teams met at Minute Maid Park back in mid-June, with the Astros taking two of three.
A huge part of Houston's success has been featuring baseball's top bullpen, but the unit couldn't hold a late lead in Monday's opener against the White Sox. Houston got going quick in the top of the first on Yordan Alvarez's RBI single followed by an RBI double by Alex Bregman, yet that would be it for an offense that went 0-5 with runners in scoring position on the night.
Jose Urquidy tossed 7.2 innings of one-run ball, allowing six hits and no walks while striking out four. The normally reliable Rafael Montero took the loss, allowing three runs without recording an out. Recent addition Trey Mancini was the only member of the Astros to reach base twice.
“That was tough to take,” said Astros manager Dusty Baker to MLB.com about the call to pull Urquidy in the eighth inning. “You can put it on me. It’s my decision ultimately, and it didn’t work.”
The Astros are up a healthy amount on the money line for the season while going 61-56 on the run line. Overs are only 44-70-3 for the Astros, with two of their last three games going under the betting total.
Houston is only a middle of the pack scoring offense at 4.53 runs per game despite posting an excellent .742 OPS that is fifth-best in baseball. This is the second-best pitching staff in baseball at a 3.02 ERA including a mark of 2.81 from the bullpen, tops in the Majors.
Alvarez is one of baseball's best hitters, batting .296/.400/.620 with 31 homers and 75 RBI. Jose Altuve is also putting together another terrific campaign, posting an .872 OPS with 19 homers, 10 steals and 64 RBI.
Ace Justin Verlander will take the mound for the 22nd time, hoping to continue the best season of his Hall of Fame career as he's 15-3 with an incredible 1.85 ERA and 134 :24 K:BB ratio over 136 innings. The 39-year-old had a shaky outing by his standards last Wednesday, allowing three runs on five hits and one walk with seven strikeouts over six innings against the Texas Rangers.
Outfielder Michael Brantley (shoulder surgery) and Jason Castro (knee discomfort) are done for the year. Relievers Josh James (strained lat) and Blake Taylor (elbow discomfort) are sidelined.