Nelson Velázquez delivers another key hit to help Houston Astros beat Chicago White Sox

The duty to validate an excellent pitching effort fell to Nelson Velázquez, only after a sputtering Houston Astros offense was delivered a rally.

A scoreless tie Wednesday reached the eighth inning. With one out, Yordan Alvarez scorched a grounder that glanced off the glove of White Sox second baseman Chase Meidroth. Manager Joe Espada sent Nick Allen in to pinch run for his slugger. A division race in September demands aggression.

Isaac Paredes drew a walk from Sean Newcomb. The left-hander then spun a slurve at Jose Altuve’s high socks. It was ruled to have clipped him, and stood on review, loading the bases with one out. Newcomb coaxed a comebacker from Daulton Varsho and threw home for the second.

That brought up Velázquez, the right-handed hitting outfielder added by Houston to hit against lefties. A right-hander warmed in the White Sox bullpen. No left-handed hitter resided on the Astros’ bench. White Sox manager Will Venable left Newcomb in to face Velázquez, anyway.

In a 1-1 count, Velázquez lined a slurve into center field for a two-run single. His swing provided the only runs in a 2-0 win for the Astros, who secured the season series with the White Sox, who are atop the AL Central, and at least a split of this four-game series at Daikin Park.

The Astros also stretched their AL West lead back to two games over the Rangers, who lost Wednesday. They are 71-69, with 22 games left in the regular season. Three pitchers combined for their ninth shutout this season. Hayden Wesneski, AJ Blubaugh and Josh Hader combined to allow three hits.

Wesneski gave Houston seven scoreless innings. Blubaugh preserved a 0-0 tie with an escape in the eighth. Tristan Peters greeted him with a leadoff triple. Drew Romo worked a walk. Sam Antonacci hit a grounder into a pulled-in infield. Peters broke for home and shortstop Jeremy Peña threw him out.

Blubaugh was not out of trouble. Munetaka Murakami laced a single to right-center field, but Romo, the catcher, got a late break from second base and was held at third. With the bases loaded, Blubaugh got a sharp grounder from Miguel Vargas that yielded an inning-ending double play. Blubaugh pumped a fist.

Two hits in the inning exceeded the number allowed by Wesneski, who was wonderfully efficient for the Astros in game nine of a stretch of 13 with no off-day. Their lineup offered him no support, undermining the right-hander’s effort.

White Sox right-hander Davis Martin worked 5 ⅔ scoreless innings, with Houston squandering a prime scoring chance against him in the fourth. The Astros went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position across the first five innings. They did not take another such at-bat until the eighth.

ASTROS 2, WHITE SOX 0

a-flied out for Trammell in the 6th. b-struck out for Wade in the 7th. c-grounded out for Benintendi in the 9th. d-struck out for B.Montgomery in the 9th.

1-ran for Alvarez in the 8th.

E_Peña (10). LOB_Chicago 6, Houston 9. 2B_Alvarez (29). 3B_Peters (4). RBIs_Velázquez 2 (17). SB_Varsho (11), Peters (8).

Runners left in scoring position_Chicago 2 (Vargas 2); Houston 5 (Trammell, Walker 2, C.Smith, Alvarez). RISP_Chicago 1 for 7; Houston 2 for 10.

Runners moved up_Murakami. GIDP_Vargas.

DP_Houston 1 (Paredes, Altuve, Walker).

Inherited runners-scored_Newcomb 1-0, Davis 2-0. HBP_Wesneski (C.Montgomery), Newcomb (Altuve).

ABS Challenge_Vargas (Strike-Overturned to Ball); Blubaugh (Ball-Overturned to Strike); Peña (Strike-Confirmed); Newcomb (Ball-Confirmed); Walker (Strike-Confirmed); Hader (Ball-Overturned to Strike).

Umpires_Home, Dan Merzel; First, Dan Bellino; Second, Mark Ripperger; Third, Shane Livensparger.

T_2:21. A_24,025 (41,000).

Hayden Wesneski goes seven strong

The idea that Wesneski could return from elbow surgery to bolster Houston’s rotation in the second half has proven sound. Wesneski has a 3.18 ERA in seven starts. He has worked seven innings in two of them. All other Astros pitchers have combined for nine such starts this season.

Wesneski allowed one hit in his seven frames Wednesday, a ground-ball single up the middle from Peters in the third inning. He walked two batters and hit one but worked around them. He also navigated an error on shortstop Jeremy Peña to open the second.

The White Sox put 17 balls in play against Wesneski. They averaged a 78.7 mph exit velocity; 95 mph exit velocity is the Statcast hard-hit threshold. Wesneski generated eight outs via groundball. He retired 14 of the final 15 batters he faced.

An odd double play started by Altuve on a dropped line drive ended the second. A single and a walk put two men on with one out in the third, but Wesneski got Murakami to ground out and Vargas to pop out. A walk produced the only runner over his final four innings.

Wesneski exited at 90 pitches. He also threw the Astros’ last start of seven innings, against the Giants on Aug. 10. Their previous one was thrown by Hunter Brown on July 25.

Lineup does nothing against Davis Martin

For a second straight night, the Astros were blanked for 5 ⅔ innings by a White Sox starter. Sean Burke subdued them Tuesday. Martin matched him despite working amid more traffic.

Martin entered with a 6.52 ERA over his last 15 starts. He had last pitched Aug. 13 due to a blister on his right index finger. He still made the Astros look punchless.

They totaled five hits against him. Martin retired nine of his first 10 batters. Alvarez doubled and Paredes singled in the fourth inning. Martin stranded them. He navigated singles from Cam Smith and Peña in the fifth, inducing a flyout by Alvarez to end the inning.

He retired two batters in the sixth before issuing his lone walk of the night to Varsho. It ended his outing at 80 pitches. Martin allowed a 91.1 mph average exit velocity on 19 batted balls in play and generated just eight whiffs on 44 swings but still left with a shutout intact.

A wasted opportunity

In the fourth, Alvarez lined a leadoff double against Martin. Paredes singled to send Alvarez to third with no outs.

He was stranded there. Martin induced a pop-out from Altuve. Varsho struck out swinging at a curveball. Taylor Trammell flied out on a first-pitch fastball.

Entering the day, in plate appearances with a runner on third base and less than two outs, the Astros had driven in the runner 47.8% of the time, per Baseball Reference. That was the fifth-lowest percentage in the majors. Only the Guardians, Royals, Cubs and Reds had a lower one. The MLB average driving in the runner in those situations was 51.3%.

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This article originally published at Nelson Velázquez delivers another key hit to help Houston Astros beat Chicago White Sox.