Wesneski's scoreless start beats White Sox 2-0
Hayden Wesneski threw 7 scoreless innings and Nelson Velazquez's two-out single won it as the Astros beat the White Sox 2-0, stretching their AL West lead over Texas to 2.0 games.
Velazquez breaks it open in the 8th
Hayden Wesneski went 7 scoreless innings on 1 hit, 2 walks and 5 strikeouts, and the Astros were still scoreless and 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position until Nelson Velazquez singled home two runs off Newcomb in the 8th, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. That was the game — Astros 2, White Sox 0.
White Sox6-3White Sox1-5White Sox2-0It completed a series sweep: 6-3 on August 31, a 5-1 loss on September 1, then the 2-0 win on September 2. The Astros (71-69) took the season series from Chicago and, per McTaggart, increased their AL West lead over the Rangers to 2.0 games, with Texas sitting at an elimination number of 21.
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Wesneski's line — 7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K — capped a night the club marked simply with a photo of him on the mound, via @astros.
Per Brian McTaggart, only two Astros starts have gone 7 innings in the 34 games since July 26, and both belong to Wesneski: 7 IP, 3 ER on August 10, and Thursday's 7 scoreless. In a rotation that hasn't gotten length anywhere else in six weeks, that's the story of the night as much as the final score.
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The Astros host the White Sox this afternoon, with Hunter Brown (4-3, 3.33 ERA) on the mound after striking out 10 over 6.2 innings and allowing just 1 earned run against the Mets on August 28. He'll face Luis Castillo (4-10, 5.31 ERA), who lasted only 4 innings and allowed 4 earned runs on 8 hits in a no-decision against the Twins that same day.
The market has Houston favored, with the total read as middling — a line that tracks with Brown's recent form and a White Sox lineup that hasn't given Castillo much to work with. For the total to hold, it likely takes Castillo missing bats early rather than surviving on soft contact, the way his last outing went.