Lance McCullers Jr. was terrific. Yordan Alvarez delivered, and Jose Altuve scored on a nifty slide.
The Houston Astros sure love October.
McCullers pitched scoreless ball into the seventh inning, and the Astros beat Lance Lynn and the Chicago White Sox 6-1 in Game 1 of their AL Division Series on Thursday.
While Houston is in the playoffs for the fifth straight season, winning the World Series in 2017 and making it to the AL Championship Series last year, Chicago is making a second straight playoff appearance for the first time in franchise history. It lost to Oakland in the first round in 2020.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Friday in Houston. The teams also met in the 2005 World Series, with the White Sox sweeping the Astros for the title.
The 28-year-old McCullers didn’t allow a hit until Yoan Moncada singled with one out in the fourth. The right-hander left to a standing ovation after giving up consecutive singles with two outs in the seventh. He waved to the cheering fans just before entering the dugout.
Lynn struggles
Alvarez hit an RBI double in the third and a solo homer in the fifth. Altuve wowed the crowd of 40,497 when he slid home and slapped the back of the plate just ahead of Yasmani Grandal’s tag in the third.
Lynn was making his first playoff appearance since 2018 after posting a career-low 2.69 ERA this season. But the burly right-hander relies on his fastball, and the Astros are one of the majors’ best fastball-hitting teams.
Rookie Jake Meyers had two hits and drove in a run for Houston. Brantley chased Lynn with a two-run single.
Chicago got on the board on Jose Abreu’s two-out single in the eighth. But Kendall Graveman retired Grandal on a liner to center for the final out.
Abreu was in the lineup after dealing with flu-like symptoms for the last few days. He did not travel with the team to Houston, instead arriving Wednesday night after multiple tests showed his illness wasn’t COVID-19-related. The White Sox weren’t sure if he’d be able to play before he went through pregame workouts, so they submitted two different lineups to the Astros — one with the 2020 AL MVP and one without him.
More Stories
It’s ‘a labour of love’ on and off the rink as Ontario roller derby team preps for playoffs in U.S. | CBC News
FIBA Men’s 3X3 Basketball World Tour: DAY 2 – Utsunomiya
CBC Sports Late Night: 2024 Athletics Wanda Diamond League – Shanghai – Suzhou