White Sox 4, Astros 2: Keuchel's Solid Effort Wasted, Correa Hits First Home Run

What Happened

Let's look at the positive side.  Some really good things happened tonight.  First and foremost, Dallas Keuchel pitched a great game.  Over seven strong innings he gave up seven hits and struck out five.  The only real blemish was the 2-run homer he gave up to Jose Abreu, and even that was a pitch that Abreu had to go down and get.  More good news?  In the ninth inning with Chris Carter on first base, Carlos Correa hit his first homer as an Astro, a no-doubter that I couldn't stop rewinding and watching over and over.  What a sweet swing.  Correa ended the night 2-4, and could have had a third hit if not for a great play by the Sox third baseman.  Two games in and Carlos has looked totally comfortable in the majors.  Also Josh Fields pitched well tonight in relief.  He came in with runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, and after walking the first batter to load the bases, struck out the side to end the threat.

On the negative side of the ledger, once again the Astros were unable to get the key hit to drive in runs.  They had runners in scoring position in the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 6th innings and were unable to get a run across.  In fact they had the bases loaded in the 4th with one out and couldn't score.  Chad Qualls also had a poor showing (his second in a row) in which he loaded the bases with no outs then allowed a Melky Cabrera 2-RBI double to increase the Chicago lead to 4-0.  If I was the complaining type I would also mention another negative was the umpire calling George Springer's final at-bat like he was ready to go home, but I'm not, so I won't.  But if you watched the game, you might have noticed Springer let blue know what he thought.

So back when the Astros won 10 straight I remember saying this team could just as easily lose 10 in a row with the way this offense is constructed.  Hopefully it doesn't get that far.  Tomorrow night we will see if they can stop the skid at six, salvage a game on this road trip, and get a win for Vincent Velasquez in his MLB debut.  He will face another White Sox lefty Jose Quintana at 7 pm.

Fun Facts

Correa is responsible for all the runs in this series so far.  He is on pace to drive in the rest of the Astros runs this season.

Both Keuchel and Fields worked out of bases-loaded no out jams tonight.

Correa also stole his first base of the season tonight.

Tweets of the Night

This nasty McCullers pitch was highlighted...

.@LMcCullers43 has been ridiculous. Another 7 K's and no walks last night. He also threw this pitch (?!?!?!?): pic.twitter.com/rYIqKAIh57

— Cespedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) June 10, 2015

LMJ responds...

Believe it or not... That's my CH lol https://t.co/ObWmxcwgEc

— Lance McCullers Jr. (@LMcCullers43) June 10, 2015

And everything about this is cool...

Correa said he exchanged a signed bat to a fan for the HR ball. Said he gave it to parents, who are here.

— Brian McTaggart ⚾️ (@brianmctaggart) June 10, 2015