A Walk in the Park: Chase Meidroth's Three-Run Homer Finishes White Sox Sweep for First Series Win Since 2005
By Jess Henderson ·
Hunter Brown lasted two outs at Daikin Park on Wednesday. By the time AJ Blubaugh took the ball, the White Sox already led 4-0, and Houston never got the lead back. Chicago won Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series 7-3, swept the best-of-three, and claimed its first playoff series victory since the 2005 World Series.
Sam Antonacci opened the day with a double that Yordan Alvarez deflected in left. Kyle Teel singled him home. Miguel Vargas reached on a fielding error by third baseman Nick Allen. Munetaka Murakami struck out for the first out of the inning. Andrew Benintendi then lined a single to center that scored Teel and Vargas, and Lucas Spence's throwing error moved Benintendi to second. Tristan Peters singled Benintendi home. Five hits, two Houston errors, four runs. Brown threw 36 pitches and did not finish the first.
Houston answered the way a club that led the majors in home runs would. Jeremy Peña led off the bottom of the first with a 395-foot homer to left-center. Cam Smith hit one 440 feet to left in the second. Jose Altuve's solo shot in the fourth, his 28th career postseason home run, cut the deficit to 4-3. Three solo homers. No traffic. The scoreboard stayed tilted toward Chicago.
The closest Houston came to flipping it was the fifth. Huascar Brazobán hit Cam Smith, struck out Nick Allen and gave up a single to Jeremy Peña. Anthony Kay came in, got Alvarez to line out, walked Isaac Paredes to load the bases, and got Altuve to fly out to right. Kay inherited two runners, and neither scored. The official scorer handed him the win for two-thirds of an inning.
Chicago put the series away in the sixth. Peter Lambert walked Benintendi and Peters to open the inning, ending a 48-pitch relief outing. Luisangel Acuña ran for Benintendi, stole second, and stole third. Peters stole second. Chase Meidroth, who had singled in the first, hit Bryan Abreu's slider 390 feet to left for a three-run homer. The lead was 7-3 again. Meidroth finished 2-for-3 with a walk and three RBI.
Sean Burke started for Chicago and struck out eight in four innings on 72 pitches. He also allowed those three solo homers, all with the bases empty. After Kay escaped the fifth, Jordan Hicks threw two scoreless and Erick Fedde finished the last two. Alvarez went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. The roof stayed closed. Attendance was 36,015.
The White Sox closed the regular season 84-78. Houston finished 81-81 and still won the West. Chicago is the better club from April through September on paper, and in October it needed two games in Houston to prove it. Game 1 went to Hagen Smith's three scoreless innings. Game 2 went to a first inning Houston could not clean up and a sixth-inning swing from the second baseman.
Cleveland is next. Progressive Field, ALDS, Saturday.
Coffee of the Month
I rotate bags when the can starts tasting like habit instead of coffee. This month I am opening Volcanica Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, a light roast from the Gedeo Zone hills that grow the trees most people mean when they say Ethiopian coffee. Lemon and blueberry show up before the cup cools. Chemex on a weekday morning. Black, because it is not Sunday.