Astros beat White Sox 6-3, lead AL West by 2
Peter Lambert struck out 6 and Nelson Velázquez homered as Houston beat Chicago 6-3, its fourth win in 5 games and enough to hold a 2-game lead in the AL West.
Lambert and Velázquez carry the White Sox win
The Astros beat the White Sox 6-3 at Daikin Park on August 31, their fourth win in the last 5 games. Peter Lambert went 4.2 innings and allowed 3 hits and 2 earned runs, striking out 6 against 5 walks, and left with the lead in hand.
White Sox6-3Nelson Velázquez went 1-for-3 with a home run and 2 RBI, doing the damage the White Sox never answered. The win closed out the series at Daikin Park and kept Houston's recent stretch — 4-1 over its last 5 — intact heading into a three-game set that continues Wednesday.
2 games clear of the Rangers with a month to go
At 70-68, Houston sits atop the AL West, 2.0 games ahead of the Rangers (68-70) and 6.0 up on the Mariners (64-74). The Rangers' elimination number is down to 23 and the Mariners' to 19 — neither is out of it yet, but both are running out of games to close the gap.
The Athletics and Angels, both 53-85 and 17.0 back, carry elimination numbers of 8 apiece. For Houston, the last 5 games — 4 wins in that stretch, capped by Sunday's win over Chicago — are exactly the kind of stretch a 2-game division lead needs in September.
Upcoming
The Astros host the White Sox tonight, with Ronel Blanco taking the ball for Houston against Chicago's Sean Burke. Blanco is 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA and was pulled after 4.2 innings and 3 earned runs in his last start, against San Diego on August 7. Burke is 7-6 with a 3.32 ERA, though his last outing was a short one — 3 innings and 8 walks against the Rangers on August 26.
The market isn't picking a side in this one, and the total sits in middling territory given the two starters' recent form — Burke's control issues and Blanco's ERA both argue for scoring, but neither pitcher has given his team length lately, which puts more of the night on the bullpens than the board reflects.