Hunter Brown Starts as Astros Face White Sox Elimination Game

Hunter Brown gets the ball with Houston’s season hanging on Wednesday, and the Astros need him to give Daikin Park a different October feeling. Chicago took Tuesday’s opener, 6-3, leaving Houston one defeat from elimination and extending the club’s home postseason skid to eight games, a stretch that began in the 2023 AL Division Series.

The result

The White Sox carry a 1-0 lead into Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series, scheduled for 5 p.m. ET Wednesday at Daikin Park. Peacock and NBCSN will carry the game, with Universo providing Spanish-language television coverage and Univision Radio carrying Spanish audio. ESPN Radio has the national call.

Chicago is one win from its first playoff series victory since the 2005 World Series, when the White Sox beat these same Astros. A sweep would also send Chicago to the AL Division Series for the first time since 2021.

Joe Espada did not need a long meeting after Game 1. “The message is clear: We have to win tomorrow,” the Astros manager said. “They understand it. We’ve been backed into a corner before, and that’s when we’re at our best — when we push back.”

Clubs that take Game 1 on the road have won 12 of 15 Wild Card Series, including nine sweeps. The Yankees, however, recovered from a Game 1 home loss against the Red Sox last postseason, the latest example of a home club turning the series around.

Will Venable’s White Sox arrived in Houston intending to finish the job. “We came here to win the series, and the first step was getting that first win,” Chicago’s manager said.

Every Chicago starter reached base in Tuesday’s win. Braden Montgomery and Chase Meidroth each had two hits, while Randal Grichuk added two more after entering from the bench. Colson Montgomery, dropped to ninth in the order for the first time this season, homered in his postseason debut. He finished the regular season with 31 homers, though only eight came after the All-Star break, when he posted a .557 OPS.

Sam Antonacci drove in multiple runs in his first postseason appearance, becoming the sixth White Sox player to do that. Colson Montgomery became the eighth Chicago player to homer in his playoff debut and the first since José Abreu in 2020. At 24 years, 214 days, he was the second-youngest White Sox player to hit a postseason homer, behind Luis Robert Jr., who was 23 years, 59 days old when he connected in the 2020 Wild Card Series at Oakland.

Houston got a pinch-hit homer from Nelson Velázquez, the fourth such postseason blast in franchise history and the first since Chris Burke in Game 1 of the 2005 NL Championship Series in St. Louis. Lucas Spence went 1-for-4 and scored, continuing a five-game stretch in which he is batting .368, going 7-for-19 with four homers and nine RBIs. Jeremy Peña, Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes each went 1-for-4 in the opener.

Paredes has now reached safely with a hit in all five of his postseason games, going 6-for-15 with a double and a walk. Bryan Abreu enters Game 2 with 36 career postseason strikeouts, two short of Kelvin Herrera’s record for a Dominican-born reliever.

The rotation next

Brown, a right-hander, starts the elimination game for Houston. He was 6-4 with a 3.19 ERA in 20 regular-season starts, covering 107 1/3 innings after missing roughly two and a half months early in the year with a shoulder strain. Brown finished third in last season’s American League Cy Young Award voting, and his late-season work offered a reminder of that ceiling: a 2.45 ERA with 13.1 strikeouts per nine innings across his final six starts.

His four-seam fastball command has been less dependable this year, reflected in a 4.61 walks-per-nine rate, but Brown has handled the White Sox well. In two starts against Chicago this season, he went 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA over 13 innings.

Sean Burke, Chicago’s right-hander, opposes him. Burke went 11-7 with a 3.34 ERA and 185 strikeouts in 172 1/3 innings during the regular season. After the White Sox used rookie Hagen Smith for three scoreless innings as Tuesday’s Game 1 starter, they need Burke to cover meaningful ground. Closer Grant Taylor threw a career-high 54 pitches over 2 1/3 innings in the opener.

Taylor said he can pitch, though his availability would likely be reserved for a clinching moment. Smith is the one Chicago arm not expected to be ready; the rest of the bullpen is positioned to help close the series.

Houston used eight relievers Tuesday but remains in workable shape. AJ Blubaugh threw 27 pitches, Bryan King 22, Miguel Ullola 31 and Josh Hendrickson 37, making them the most uncertain options. Bennett Sousa threw 13 pitches, while Abreu and closer Josh Hader each logged 11. Tatsuya Imai did not pitch and could provide multiple innings if Brown exits early.

Chicago has no injuries listed for the game. Houston will be without left-hander Steven Okert, who is recovering from a right hamstring strain.

The White Sox are expected to keep much of their Game 1 lineup intact against Brown, with Colson Montgomery likely remaining at shortstop and near the bottom of the order after his homer.

Espada may reshape Houston’s defense behind Brown, a ground-ball pitcher. Nick Allen could start at second base, with Jose Altuve moving to designated hitter and Alvarez taking left field, where he made 24 regular-season starts.

For Houston, the assignment is plain: get a start from Brown, find nine innings of cleaner baseball at home, and keep the season from ending in the same ballpark where Chicago celebrated a championship two decades ago.