The Houston Astros began the second half of the season on the Southside of Chicago with a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox. After a win on Friday night, the Sox got back-to-back strong outings from Lucas Giolito and Carlos Rodon to take the series between American League Division leaders. On Friday night the Astros won game one of the series with a 7-1 victory as Lance McCullers Jr. pitched a gem and shut the White Sox down. He went seven strong innings, and struck out 10, walked two, allowed two hits, and a run to pickup his 7th win on the season.
The rest of the series was a different story for the Astros as they could not get anything going offensively against strong White Sox pitching. On Saturday night, Lucas Giolitto (8-6) was dominant as he went the distance to toss his fifth career complete game. He struck out eight, allowed three hits, and allowed one run in the 10-1 victory. The Astros could only muster three hits and their only run came on an Abraham Toro solo home run in the 4th inning. On Sunday afternoon it would be the same story as Saturday night as Carlos Rodon dominated the league’s highest-scoring offense. Rodon (8-3) pitched seven innings and struck out 10 and allowed just one hit. Abraham Toro was the only Astro to get a hit in Sunday’s game.
After a rough series in Chicago, the Astros (56-38) who still lead the AL West by 3 ½ games over the Oakland Athletics, will now return home for a six-game homestand. First, they will begin a three-game series on Monday against the Cleveland Indians and then begin a weekend series on Friday against the Texas Rangers. Hopefully, they can get back on track when they return to Minute Maid Park.