A timely attack and solid bullpen have helped the American League Central-leading Chicago White Sox match their season high at seven games over .500.
Chicago’s bid to keep climbing continues Friday with a visit from the Houston Astros for a three-game series, but the White Sox prefer to take things one game at a time.
“A lot of it is going day to day and not thinking too much about what’s going on the day before,” reliever Bryan Hudson said. “Focus on what’s in front of us and how we can win that day. Just keep going that way. It’s a good feeling.”
The White Sox have won three straight series as they return to Rate Field for the first time since sweeping the Athletics in the final three games before the All-Star break. The White Sox are 31-17 at home.
Chicago was idle Thursday after defeating the host Texas Rangers 4-2 on Wednesday. Chase Meidroth went 4-for-4 with two RBIs, Andrew Benintendi had two hits and two RBIs, and the pitching staff limited Texas to five hits.
Houston enters the opener of a six-game road trip coming off a three-game sweep of the Miami Marlins.
Yordan Alvarez drilled a go-ahead, two-run home run in the eighth inning before Isaac Paredes followed with a solo shot to key a 5-2 victory on Wednesday.
Although Alvarez carries the American League’s top marks in batting average (.328), home runs (34) and RBIs (77), the Astros designated hitter prefers to avoid discussing what maintaining that pace would entail.
“I’m just focused right now on playing ball,” Alvarez said. “There’s more than two months remaining in the season, so I’m not going to talk anymore about the Triple Crown. I don’t want to answer any more questions about the Triple Crown.”
The Astros would rather address their pursuit of an AL playoff spot. Despite being four games under .500, they stand two games out of the AL West lead and also are part of a jumbled wild-card race.
“The expectation is to win,” said shortstop Jeremy Pena, who has homered in three consecutive games. “How do we get there? Everyone is showing up every single day. Everyone is trying to figure that out.”
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti is set to oppose Davis Martin of Chicago in a matchup of right-handers.
Arrighetti (7-5, 4.34 ERA) will aim to win for the first time since he faced the Texas Rangers on May 28, a span of eight starts. After pitching to a 9.00 ERA in June, Arrighetti has allowed just one run in two of his three outings this month.
He took a no-decision against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday, spacing one run, one hit, four walks and six strikeouts in five innings. Arrighetti is 0-1 with a 6.30 ERA in two career starts against the White Sox, covering 10 innings.
Martin (9-5, 3.31) has similar numbers versus the Astros — 0-1 with a 5.73 ERA in two starts over 11 innings.
Although he is coming off Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Toronto, when he worked 5 2/3 innings of one-run, four-hit ball, Martin said he felt “back in sync” mechanically after recent struggles.
“It’s a good tone-setter for the second half,” he said. “I think there’s some things we can get better on, but for the most part, just really happy with how we could make adjustments on the fly. I kind of felt more like myself, compared to the prior month.”
–Field Level Media
