The Chicago White Sox chased Houston Astros ace Hunter Brown before the first inning ended in Game 2 of their AL wild-card series.
Brown was pulled for AJ Blubaugh after giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits in two-thirds of an inning. He faced all nine White Sox hitters and walked Colson Montgomery to turn the lineup over before leaving to a chorus of boos from the home crowd.
It's the first time in Brown's career that he's allowed more than one run in a playoff outing, whether as a starter or reliever.
Kyle Teel got the White Sox on the board with an RBI single to score leadoff hitter Sam Antonacci. Andrew Benintendi and Tristan Peters also had RBIs in the frame, and a third run scored on center fielder Lucas Spence's throwing error - one of two errors by Houston's defense in the inning.
The @WhiteSox score three more runs in Houston 😳
— MLB (@MLB) September 30, 2026
They're up 4-0 in the 1st! pic.twitter.com/VdScrGKbBk
Blubaugh limited the damage by getting Antonacci to ground out, stranding the bases loaded. That set the stage for Jeremy Peña to hit a leadoff homer off White Sox starter Sean Burke to cut Chicago's lead to 4-1.
This marks the second straight day an Astros starter failed to make it out of the opening frame. Blubaugh opened Game 1 in a designed bullpen game and gave up one run while loading the bases before Bryan King came in to clean it up. However, the one run Chicago scored off Blubaugh in Tuesday's first inning held up in a 6-3 White Sox win.
Houston - the first team in MLB history to win its division without a winning record - needs a victory Wednesday to extend its season and force a deciding Game 3 in the wild-card series.
