*Photo from the Rutland Herald*
The title defense didn't get off to a good start this time. Yasmani Grandal homered, Andrew Vaughn drove in the winning run, and the Chicago White Sox defeated the Houston Astros with a 3-2 victory on Thursday night in Houston.
With the win, the White Sox snapped the Astros streak of 10 straight opening day wins, which was tied for the longest in MLB history. New manager Pedro Grifol also won his managerial debut thanks to the contributions of Grandal and Vaughn at the plate.
Grifol said of winning his debut that "I wouldn't want it any other way. That was a great game all the way around from the first inning to the last inning. A lot of moving parts to it even though there was just three or four moves. These guys played great, man. They responded. They had great energy, and it's on them, the ones that play the game. That was a really well-fought game."
The first 6 innings of this game went scoreless. The Astros got themselves the lead in the 7th inning. Yordan Alvarez crossed the plate on a wild pitch to put the Astros ahead. The next time the White Sox came up, in the top of the 8th inning, Grandal tied the game back up, hitting a solo home run to make the score 1-1 heading into the 9th.
With Luis Robert and Tim Anderson on base in the 9th, Vaughn doubled them both home, giving the White Sox a 3-1 lead on what ended up being the game winning hit. In the bottom of the 9th, Alvarez hit a solo home run to cut the deficit to 3-2. That didn't end up being enough however, as the White Sox sealed the win after that.
It was Dylan Cease serving as the White Sox opening day starter. Cease allowed one run on two hits, striking out 10 hitters in 6 1/3 innings. Aaron Bummer finished the 7th before Cease, with Kendall Graveman getting the win with a scoreless 8th inning. Reynaldo Lopez got the save in the 9th.
Cease said of his performance that "I think this one and probably my near no-hitter game are 1-2. That’s about as sharp as I’ve ever been. Really even the last couple of weeks I felt locked in and so I just followed that process and trusted in it."
Framber Valdez got the start in the opener for the Astros, getting a no decision with 5 scoreless innings, striking out 4 hitters. Bryan Abreu and Hector Neris pitched scoreless innings before Rafael Montero allowed one run in the 8th inning. Ryan Pressly got the loss by allowing two runs in the 9th inning.
Astros 3rd baseman Alex Bregman said of the loss that "Sometimes you get knocked down and you got to keep getting back up and keep going. It’s a long season. It’s 162 big ones. Turn the page to the next day and keep going. Definitely not the way you wanted a birthday to go."
The White Sox and Astros continue their series on Friday night for game two of 4. Lance Lynn starts for Chicago, opposed by Cristian Javier of the Astros.
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