Davis Martin was practically in cruise control Friday against the Astros, throwing five scoreless innings and taking a five-run lead into the sixth, having escaped his only two innings with multiple baserunners.
But he couldn’t escape that nightmare inning.
The Astros sent 14 batters to the plate and scored eight times, the big blows being Christian Walker’s three-run double and Cam Smith’s two-run home run, sending the White Sox to a 9-5 loss.
“Just couldn’t get any outs,” Sox manager Will Venable said. “They did a good job putting the ball in play.”
“It’s unacceptable,” Martin said. “The tone-setting in the sixth inning was really bad on my part, which leads to a bigger inning.”
That it did. After allowing three hits in five innings, Martin allowed singles to slugger Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve and LaMonte Wade and plunked Isaac Paredes.
“For me, Yordan single, you keep him in the yard, that’s great,” Davis said. “Hit by pitch to Paredes is tough. But then I look at it like, Altuve hits that ball a couple feet to the left, Wade a couple feet to the right, it’s a completely different inning. I know it’s all wish in one hand and s–t in the other and see which one fills up first. It’s baseball. Baseball happened. It sucks.”
Venable went to left-hander Bryan Hudson, who promptly allowed the double and homer. Hudson had closed out the Sox’ 4-2 victory Wednesday against the Rangers.
“We’re thinking that Huddy against anybody, lefty or righty, is a good person to pick [us] up,” Venable said. “When you give up eight runs in that spot, that’s probably a decision that I made or something that I missed. As far as the timing with Huddy, I think there’s an argument for a batter before there. But Davis is in a good spot. He hadn’t given up a run yet.”
“Huddy’s our guy, somebody that you trust in every situation. You mentioned him closing last outing. Just one of those where something along the way didn’t drop him in right, and obviously they were able to capitalize and score a bunch of runs.”
Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti, who allowed three runs in the first, left with nerve irritation in his right foot after throwing a few warmup pitches before the second. The Sox scored only two runs the rest of the way in what became a bullpen game for the Astros.
Mune ‘in a good spot’
Munetaka Murakami hasn’t homered in a game since May 27, when he hit his third in three days. His 20 homers have been surpassed by Miguel Vargas (21) and Colson Montgomery (24) on the team. But manager Will Venable thinks the slugging first baseman is in a good spot.
“I think the last couple games, [we] saw him get that leg up and get ready a lot earlier,” Venable said. “To me, that’s a good sign that he’s putting himself in a much better position, that the timing is getting closer and closer.
“We see him putting more and more balls in play. Hasn’t clicked that one yet, but he continues to put himself in a good spot. And along the way, he continues to make really good swing decisions and takes, as well.”
Notes
Sox rookie right fielder Braden Montgomery had his first three-hit game, singling in each of his first three at-bats. Two of them were with two strikes. He finished 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI.
• Caleb Bonemer, the Sox’ top-ranked prospect, left Double-A Birmingham’s game after being hit in the head by a pitch. Preliminary tests indicate he doesn’t have a concussion.
• Right-hander Jordan Leasure threw in the bullpen as he continues his recovery from a strained right flexor.