![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ctc-z-White-Sox-Astros-Baseball_266233721.jpg\")
Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Davis Martin throws against the Houston Astros during the first inning on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)<\/p>\nHOUSTON \u2014 The Chicago White Sox were in a position to break through in the eighth inning Wednesday against the Houston Astros.<\/p>\n
Tristan Peters was on third and Drew Romo on first with no outs in a scoreless game.<\/p>\n
The Astros brought the infield in and Sam Antonacci hit a grounder to shortstop Jeremy Pe\u00f1a. Peters headed home and was thrown out at the plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the first and third there with Tristan, you go right there and maybe you try and get into a rundown there but trying to stay out of the double play, which really hurts you,\u201d manager Will Venable said. \u201cIt was one of those where Tristan did the right thing by going and obviously just weren\u2019t able to advance the back-side runners.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sox still had runners on first and second with one out. Munetaka Murakami lined a single to right field. Romo slightly hesitated off second and held up at third.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a hard-hit ball to right field,\u201d Romo said. \u201cJust take a look at the right fielder, trying to see. If that ball is hit right at him and I take off running without looking, then it\u2019s a double play and you are asking me the same question.\u201d<\/p>\n
Batting with the bases loaded, Miguel Vargas then grounded into an inning-ending double play.<\/p>\n
Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Davis Martin throws against the Houston Astros during the first inning on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)<\/p>\n
The Astros made the most of their chance in the bottom of the eighth, with Nelson Vel\u00e1zquez delivering a two-out, two-run single. That was the difference as the Astros defeated the Sox 2-0 in front of 24,025 at Daikin Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust opportunities that we had and weren\u2019t able to cash any of those runs in,\u201d Venable said.<\/p>\n
The first-place Sox (73-66) remain three games ahead of the second-place Cleveland Guardians (70-69) in the American League Central. The Guardians also lost Wednesday, falling 11-0 to the Toronto Blue Jays.<\/p>\n
The Sox received a strong outing from starter Davis Martin in their loss. The right-hander scattered five hits, struck out three and walked one in 5 2\/3 scoreless innings as he made his return from the injured list.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust try to take it one pitch at a time, trying to be as slow and monotonous as possible,\u201d Martin said. \u201cConvicted with every pitch. Can\u2019t get three outs with one pitch. Just truly trying to make one pitch at a time, trying to be (as) present as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was his first outing since Aug. 13 against the Cincinnati Reds<\/a>, when he was ejected in the third inning after hitting Sal Stewart with a pitch. Martin noted a blister that had developed played a factor in the situation. He went on the injured list the next day<\/a> with a blister on his right middle finger.<\/p>\n Martin worked out of a pair of jams on Wednesday. That included a first-and-third, no-out situation in the fourth, where he got a popout, strikeout and flyout.<\/p>\n The Sox had an opportunity earlier in the game against Astros starter Hayden Wesneski.<\/p>\n Runners were on first and second with one out in the second inning when Chase Meidroth hit a soft line drive to second baseman Jose Altuve, who dropped the ball. Altuve threw to second base for a force out. Andrew Benintendi, the runner on second, got caught in a rundown and was tagged out to end the inning.<\/p>\n Venable checked with the umpires, who said Altuve didn\u2019t drop it intentionally.<\/p>\n \u201cI went out there just to ask,\u201d Venable said. \u201cIt was just kind of a funny play. Usually guys make those plays. Kind of a little floater in between there where obviously it\u2019s not going to be an infield fly. But a ball where it\u2019s tough to get two outs on that play.\u201d<\/p>\n Wesneski allowed one hit in seven innings, striking out five and walking two.<\/p>\n The Sox missed out on the chances in the eighth despite all the traffic against reliever AJ Blubaugh. The Sox contemplated pinch-running for Romo during the inning.<\/p>\n \u201cWe talked about it and trust in Drew there,\u201d Venable said. \u201cAt the same time, he\u2019s catching a shutout there, with (reliever Sean Newcomb) going back out, which was the plan. Definitely a thought and obviously if you go back, probably would have chosen to do it. But it was a decision that we talked about and thought that we were in a good spot and trusted Drew to make the right move.\u201d<\/p>\n The Astros loaded the bases with one out on a single, a walk and Altuve being hit by a pitch. The Sox challenged the ruling on the hit by pitch, but the call stood.<\/p>\n Newcomb got Daulton Varsho to bounce back to the mound and got a force at home plate for the second out.<\/p>\n Vel\u00e1zquez singled sharply to center on a 1-1 slurve, driving in the only two runs of the game.<\/p>\n Josh Hader pitched a perfect ninth inning for the Astros as the Sox suffered a tough loss.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a lot of opportunities,\u201d Romo said. \u201cOur pitching was really good. Davis did great. The bullpen did great. And we had our chances to score on offense. When I was there on second base, we also had a runner on third, we had bases loaded.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had multiple opportunities to score and we didn\u2019t come through. It\u2019s nobody\u2019s fault in particular. It\u2019s just a collective group thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 The Chicago White Sox were in a position to break through in the eighth inning Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[144914,63227,56,5513,58,57,38990],"class_list":["post-424871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-american-league-central","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-houston","tag-houston-astros","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-mlb-baseball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}