The Astros just won a home-field series. Yay!
This, a four-game set against the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox in convincing fashion, 6-2. It is the first series the Astros have taken at home in over a month, coming after losing home series previously to such bottom-feeders as the Angels and Athletics.
Starting pitching was the highlight today and throughout the three wins in the series. In those wins, starters allowed only four earned runs, and two of the starters, including today’s Hunter Brown, were credited with quality starts.
As of this writing, the win puts the Astros 2.5 games ahead of the Rangers in the race for the AL West pennant, and three games above .500. Taking three of four from the White Sox also puts the Astros only 1.5 games behind the Sox for the first-round bye in the playoffs. And if, per chance, the Rangers overtake the Stros in the AL West, currently the hometown boys hold the third Wild Card berth over the Guardians.
The Astros grabbed the early lead in the first inning thanks to a two-out, Jose Altuve two-run dinger deep into the Crawford Boxes.
The lead wouldn’t last long. Four singles, mostly on weak contact in the second, including RBI by Jake Rogers and Sam Antonacci, tied the score at two.
The Astros exploded in the third with a four-spot off Sox starter Luis Castillo. It started with a LaMonte Wade single followed by a Yordan Alvarez hit by pitch. An Isaac Paredes double off the left-field wall scored Wade, and Alvarez and Paredes scored on a two-out Daulton Varsho triple off the right-center field wall. Varsho scored on a Christian Walker single.
After his second-inning blip, (Brown allowed six hits to his first 12 batters), Hunter settled down nicely for the Stros, completing a quality start with six IP, allowing two runs, six hits, two walks, with seven strikeouts. It was the second straight quality start for Astros pitching, a rare commodity for the 2026 version of the pitching staff.
After Brown’s departure, Bennet Sousa, Bryan Abreu, and AJ Blubaugh held the Sox scoreless, allowing only one baserunner. It was Blubaugh’s 10th straight appearance without allowing a run, and in his last 19 innings he has allowed only one earned run. Today he threw ten pitches to close out the game, all for strikes.
The homestand continues tomorrow against the Diamondbacks, another winning team with playoff aspirations. Seems the Astros play their best against such opponents.
Something like 1.5 games back from the 2nd seed