One Stat No One is Talking About From Astros Game One Loss Against White Sox

Astros pitching struggled to end at bats with two strikes.

Houston Astros pitcher Bryan King (74) Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Astros fell to the White Sox in game one of the best-of-three game Wild Card series at home. Its easy to highlight Bryan King’s failures or AJ Blubaugh’s struggles gererally, but this game was turned on its head due to the White Sox being able to execute with two strikes in the early innings. On the other hand, the Astros pitching served up hittable two strike pitches.

In the first five innings of the game, when the Astros allowed five of the six runs, they would surrender in the contest, the White Sox came through with a base hit with two strikes on six occasions.

King Tough Outing

The two-run second inning off Bryan King started with a 1-2 pitch bounded into right field off the bat of Braden Montgomery. King was ahead in the count to Chase Meidroth as well when he allowed another single to begin the frame. It was another 1-2 count when King loaded the bases with hit-by-pitch, all this coming with no outs.

King quickly got ahead and was one strike away from a bases-loaded strikeout when Sam Antonacci singled on an 0-2 pitch to score a pair of White Sox. King would allow one more single, this time not scoring any runs to load the bases again and force Joe Espada to go to the bullpen.

Bright Spot Ullola

Houston Astros pitcher Miguel Ullola (66) Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Bringing in the untested Rookie Miguel Ullola proved to be an astute move by the skipper. Ullola stranded the bases loaded with a groundout and two punchouts.

He would allow one run in 3.0 innings, coming on a two-strike home run from Colson Montgomery. It was the only hit allowed by Ullola.

Difficult First

Houston Astros pitcher AJ Blubaugh (69) Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Of course, another key moment happened in the first inning without the need for a hit. Blubaugh walked the leadoff hitter after getting the familiar two strikes.

He then induced a ground ball to Christian Walker, who stepped on first and tried to throw to second to double off the runner. The throw bounced and went into left field, allowing the runner to advance to third.

Instead of having no one on two outs, it was an unfortunate runner on third with less than two outs, setting up the Munetaka Murakami sacrifice fly. That only made the score 1-0 White Sox, but it pulled Blubaugh from the game and set up King for his dreadful outing.

The game changed quickly in the early innings on preventable mistakes like pitching to contact when the Astros’ pitching was ahead in the count.

It might not be the most glamorous stat, but it affected this game negatively for the Astros and will force them to dig out of a 1-0 series hole on Wednesday.