Astros' Long-Reliever Opener Strategy Fails in Last Game

The Houston Astros arrived at the 2026 Major League Baseball playoffs holding the worst winning percentage in franchise history for any team making it out of spring training. On Tuesday night inside Daikin Park, they performed exactly as their record suggested they would fail to do.

They needed a victory in game 162 just to qualify for October baseball, so they delivered one anyway with a final score of 9-0. The win relied on a bullpen strategy and the twenty-ninth home run of the season from Christian Walker. On Tuesday, management tried to repeat that specific formula again by launching long reliever A.J. Blubaugh as the opener. Bryan King and Miguel Ullola sat in the wings ready for work.

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Facing what looks like the most powerful offense in the American League, the plan did not work as intended. Two first inning walks for the White Sox and a throwing error from Walker preceded a sacrifice fly from Munetaka Murakami. And without the benefit of a hit, Chicago took a 1-0 lead that looked dangerous early on. In the second though, the hits started coming fast and furious. A Chase Meidroth single, Colson Montgomery hit by pitch put two runners on for Sam Antonacci, who delivered the big blow to put Chicago up 3-0 in short order.

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A solo homer from Colson Montgomery and some careless Astros pitching sandwiched around a Nelson Velazquez two-run homer extended the lead to 6-2 quickly. And the White Sox never looked back, with Grant Taylor going 2.1 innings with five strikeouts to close out the game and give Chicago the big 1-0 lead in the series.

This outcome is a microcosm of how the Astros and White Sox have played throughout the regular season so far this year. Chicago's lineup took advantage of a below-average Houston bullpen, and a rookie with little experience played the hero role again and again.

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Hagen Smith, who has just 28 innings of regular season big league experience under his belt, put up three scoreless innings with just two baserunners allowed against the Houston attack. Colson Montgomery hit a solo homer to stretch the lead to four runs easily. Sam Antonacci, a surprising star at the top of the White Sox lineup, delivered again in the seventh inning. And Munetaka Murakami scored two runs and drove in another runner from third base late. Suddenly, a team with the 25th highest-payroll payroll in baseball is nine innings from winning a playoff series, months before owners lock players out to push for a salary cap that might never come.

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The win marked Chicago's first postseason victory since 2021, and cemented the organization's remarkable turnaround from their record-setting 41-121 season in 2024 which nobody could have predicted last summer. Smart, targeted free-agency signings and a strong player development staff getting the most out of a deep farm system made all the difference this year.

For Houston, they demonstrated why they were an 81-81 record team that missed the playoffs by one game last year. Capable of flashes of brilliance here and there, but with maddening periods of inconsistency that hurt them in key moments. While Tuesday was a bullpen game for both teams, Wednesday will provide a more traditional pitching matchup as they send their aces out in what is now an elimination game for the Astros to lose if they do not win.

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Hunter Brown, who returned from injury to put up a 3.19 ERA, goes for Houston tonight while trying to stay healthy enough for Game Two. Another surprising young player, Sean Burke, starts for Chicago against the Houston ace in what promises to be a tight battle. Pitching is the great equalizer in the postseason, and both teams will send out quality pitchers that can make things tough on opposing lineups if they hit well enough.

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Maybe the happiest White Sox fan out there is The Pope who sent a letter to the organization prior to the start of the playoffs last week. One more win, and he can start praying to beat the Cleveland Guardians and reach the ALCS where everything changes quickly for everyone involved in this story.