Lance Lynn Repeats History in ALDS Opener as the Astros Jump Ahead 1-0 Against White Sox

Gordon Liang

10/7/2021

Sports are all about surprises. The best moments are the biggest surprises. White Sox manager Tony LaRussa didn’t hesitate to surprise the fans this October as one of the more controversial decisions this series was made before a pitch was thrown. Lynn accumulated quite an impressive season in 2021 going 11-7 with a 2.69 ERA and a 2.59 xERA. Lynn has not allowed great contact all year but if there was a team he never got a beat on, it was the Houston Astros.

Lynn’s struggles with Houston began before he became a southside hero. Lynn posted a spectacular 1.93 ERA for the Texas Rangers at the 2020 deadline and was a strong candidate to be traded. Lynn had a 4.02 SIERA at the time and with sabermetrics not being as popular in 2020, a deadline trade would’ve been the paradigm of selling high. Instead, the Rangers decided to hold him for the rest of the season and the Astros instantly showed why holding Lynn was a mistake.

Since the 2020 deadline, Lynn lost every decision against the Astros going 0-3 allowing 21 earned runs in 15.2 innings pitched. This doesn’t include Thursday’s ALDS game where he finished his night allowing 5 earned runs in 3.2 innings pitched.

Astros Rookie Jake Meyers got the scoring started on an opposite-field RBI single off an inside fastball that scored Yordan Alvarez from third base. The Astros tacked on more on a fielder’s choice from Alex Bregman that brought in Jose Altuve mainly thanks to an excellent slide that eluded Yasmani Grandal’s glove. White Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada immediately paid for not taking the easy out and allowing Bregman to reach first base when the next hitter, Yordan Alvarez, sent a double off the wall scoring Bregman from first base to put the Astros up by three runs. Lynn’s day ended the next inning when professional hitter Michael Brantley drove in two runs on a two-out single.

In a Lance vs Lance game, it was all about Lance McCullers Jr. McCullers Jr pitched 6.2 innings of shutout baseball striking out four and to the surprise of many, walking none. He left with two men on but reliever Phil Maton took care of Gavin Sheets to end the threat.

The White Sox got one back in the eight inning on a weak single off Kendall Graveman, who made his postseason debut, to bring the White Sox within one. Graveman escaped trouble on a deep lineout off Grandal that travelled 376 feet to dead center.

Like his foe, Dusty Baker also made a weird decision later in the game when he chose to bring his best arm out in a 5-1 game. Ryan Pressly started the ninth inning with a bloop single off the bat of Luis Robert that had an exit velocity of 66.1 miles per hour. Robert advanced on a wild pitch in the next at bat but Pressly got two strikeouts and got Engel to ground out to strand Robert and end the game. Graveman threw 25 pitches while Pressly threw 21 so the decision to bring out Pressly likely leaves both of the two best Astros arms unavailable for Game 2.

The Astros play the White Sox again on Friday afternoon at Minute Maid Park. The game will start at 2:07 PM Eastern Time and will be shown on MLB Network. The Astros will bring left-hander Framber Valdez to the mound while the White Sox will bring Lucas Giolito, who many expected to start today’s game instead.