Two two-out rallies got here again to chunk the Chicago White Sox.
And as a substitute of a second straight victory to begin the season, the Sox suffered a 6-3 loss to the Houston Astros on Friday in entrance of 41,453 at Minute Maid Park.
Yordan Alvarez delivered the massive hit, driving in three with a double within the seventh inning to provide the Astros the lead.
“All rallies are deflating, but when you get a couple of quick outs and then you give up a few runs, obviously that hurts a little more,” Sox supervisor Pedro Grifol stated. “All rallies hurt.”
The Sox couldn’t maintain a three-run lead, falling to 1-1 after rallying for a 3-2 win Thursday within the season opener.
“Overall, a couple of walks just got to us,” Grifol stated. “Especially in the bottom of the order that led to some runs. Hard-fought game. A pitch or two away, a knock or two away and the outcome is different.”
The Sox led 3-0 within the sixth, with Eloy Jiménez driving in two runs on two doubles. Yoán Moncada additionally had an RBI double, considered one of three hits for the third baseman.
Sox starter Lance Lynn pitched properly however bumped into hassle within the sixth. He retired the primary two batters of the inning earlier than former Sox first baseman José Abreu singled to middle. Kyle Tucker adopted with a two-run homer to middle, slicing the Sox result in one.
That was the final batter for Lynn, who allowed the 2 runs on three hits with six strikeouts and 4 walks in 5⅔ innings.
“I walked too many guys and then gave up the homer in the sixth, it’s on me,” Lynn stated. “I’ve to get by means of that inning. If I get by means of that inning, we’ve obtained an opportunity to win. Put the bullpen in a nasty spot. They needed to come get me out of the inning and it didn’t go our means after that.
“When you don’t go six innings, you didn’t do your job as a starter. So I didn’t do my job (Friday) and it cost us the game.”
The momentum continued to pattern the Astros’ means within the seventh with stellar protection.
Third baseman Alex Bregman fielded Tim Anderson’s sluggish grounder along with his naked hand and made a throw to first simply in time to start the inning. And with a runner on and one out, Tucker made a leaping catch close to the wall in proper area to rob Andrew Benintendi.
“That ball that (Benintendi) hit down the right-field line, I don’t know if it would have been a homer or not, but it was a heck of a play,” Grifol stated. “We would have simply added proper again after giving up a pair, we might have put a crooked quantity on the board with that one.
“It was just a great play by a really good player. I’ve seen him make those plays before.”
In the underside of the seventh, reliever Kendall Graveman surrendered a two-out stroll to Martín Maldonado, the ninth hitter within the Astros lineup.
“You can’t walk (Maldonado) there,” Graveman stated. “That’s the game. Got to be better than that. That game’s on me, solely. I have two pitches, two outs and then a walk on a 3-2 pitch. Continue to challenge, continue to challenge the strike zone. I’ve got to find a way to get out of there.”
Jeremy Peña blooped a single to left and Bregman walked, loading the bases for Alvarez.
Jake Diekman entered for the Sox, making a lefty-lefty matchup. Alvarez went the opposite method to left for the three-run double, giving the Astros a 5-3 lead.
“(I) shouldn’t put (Diekman) in that situation,” Graveman stated. “Should by no means be in that state of affairs. We fought and battled and I believed we hit the ball properly off (Astros starter Cristian) Javier. Bullpen confidence, we’ve obtained to proceed to construct confidence in our staff by throwing the ball properly. And when we now have a lead within the late innings, we’ve obtained to go win baseball video games and that’s how we construct confidence.
“It’s a long season, two games in, obviously you never want that to happen. But you’ve got to continue to work and get better. Somebody’s going to pick us up (Saturday) and let’s go try to win a series and win a game. We’ve still got two ahead of us.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com