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Astros Advance to Face Red Sox in ALCS After Beating White Sox 10-1 in ALDS Game 4

Adam Wells

The Houston Astros have reached the American League Championship Series for the fifth consecutive year after their 10-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.    

After Monday's rainout, the Astros used Game 1 starter Lance McCullers Jr. with a chance to close out the ALDS. The right-hander spun a gem in his first outing against the White Sox with 6.2 shutout innings in a 6-1 win. 

The White Sox turned to Carlos Rodon for the first time in the series. The southpaw dealt with injuries in the second half of the regular season, but he looked great in a limited role down the stretch with a 2.00 ERA over 18 innings in September. 

Rodon came out of the gate strong, striking out Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez in the top of the first inning on 99 mph fastballs. 

The Astros eventually got to Rodon in the top of the third on Carlos Correa's two-run double that put them up 2-1. They broke the game open in the fourth against Michael Kopech on an RBI single by Martin Maldonado and Alex Bregman's double that scored two runs to make it a 5-1 score. 

Houston's pitching staff did a great job against Chicago's lineup. McCullers and five relievers combined to allow one run on seven hits with nine strikeouts. 

The Astros have become the third team in MLB history to reach the League Championship Series in at least five straight years. The Oakland Athletics (1971-75) and Atlanta Braves (1995-99) are the only other teams to accomplish that feat. 

Notable Game Stats

Balanced Astros Peaking at the Right Time

Coming into the postseason, everyone knew that Houston's strength was its offense. The lineup led all of Major League Baseball in runs scored (863), batting average (.267), on-base percentage (.339) and wRC+ (116). 

Based on their four games against the White Sox, the Astros' ability to score isn't just limited to the regular season. They scored at least six runs in all four games and finished with 37 runs total. 

It was the usual suspects who were doing most of the damage for Houston. Bregman, Correa Michael Brantley, Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez combined to go 26-for-78 with six doubles, three homers and 22 RBI. 

One big thing that separates Houston's lineup from virtually every other group in MLB is the group's collective ability to put the bat on the ball. The AL West champs were the only team in the league with a strikeout rate under 20 percent during the regular season (19.4). 

That ability to make hard contact without striking out a lot adds up to what the Astros did to the White Sox in this series. 

Even though the offense gets a lot of the attention, the Astros pitching staff has been very good in 2021. They had the fourth-best ERA in the AL during the regular season (3.78).

They held Chicago to six runs in their three wins. Luis Garcia was the only pitcher who threw more than one inning to allow more than one earned run. 

McCullers didn't look nearly as sharp in this game as he did in Game 1. He gave up five hits and walked three in just four innings, but the White Sox only managed one run against him. 

Astros manager Dusty Baker turned to his bullpen for the final five innings. That unit allowed seven earned runs in 5.1 innings during Game 3. They responded by holding the White Sox to two hits in five innings today. 

All of the pieces have come together at the right time to send the Astros back to the ALCS and move them four wins away from their third trip to the World Series since 2017.   

Second-Half Struggles Plague White Sox in Playoff Loss

One benefit the White Sox had playing in the AL Central this season was a lack of competition. 

Chicago had the second-worst record of any division champion (93-69) in MLB this season, but its 13-game edge over second-place Cleveland was the widest of any division winner. 

Some of this speaks to how good the White Sox are, but it also points to how bad the AL Central was in 2021.

There was never a doubt basically from the start of May that the White Sox were going to win the division. That ability to put things on cruise control was both a benefit and curse. 

Even with serious injuries to Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert early in the year, the White Sox continued to play well. That's a testament to the amount of depth accumulated by the front office over the years. 

One thing the lack of competition in the AL Central didn't do was shine a light on how the White Sox played after the All-Star break. They were 54-35 with a plus-117 run differential in the first half. 

In the second half, the White Sox went 39-34 with a plus-43 run differential. The main culprit for those struggles was pitching. Their ERA went from 3.58 pre-All-Star break to 3.90 after the All-Star break. 

Craig Kimbrel was brought in to give Chicago a dominant late-inning duo, alongside Liam Hendriks. Instead, he completely collapsed after being acquired from the Chicago Cubs with a 5.09 ERA in 23 innings. 

Rodon, who was so dominant in the first half and made his first All-Star team, only threw 43 innings in the second half. His adrenaline was clearly off the charts Tuesday for his first playoff start. 

After averaging 97.6 mph with his fastball in the first inning, though, Rodon struggled to maintain that velocity in the second:

Chicago only got 12.1 combined innings out of starters Rodon, Dylan Cease, Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito in the series. 

This is a disappointing end to the season for a White Sox team that won the AL Central for the first time since 2008. They are certainly going to be a factor in the playoff race next season with Rodon and Kimbrel, depending on if his $16 million team option is picked up, are their only significant free agents.

But the second half and postseason did highlight the need for some potential roster adjustments the front office can make heading into 2022.     

What's Next?

The Astros will host the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the ALCS on Friday at Minute Maid Park.

   

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