White Sox 2, Astros 0: The Jonathan Cannon Game

Jonathan Cannon dominates Houston

I would be remiss to not start this recap with the news of Hall-of-Famer Willie Mays passing away this afternoon. Mays was the best to play the game. Dante Jones penned a beautiful tribute to Mays after the news was broken.

His death comes two days before the Cardinals and Giants take the field at the historic Rickwood Field, where Mays got his start in the Negro Leagues, for the Birmingham Black Barons. Mays was scheduled to attend the Rickwood Classic, but could not due to his health.

Fans at Rickwood Field, where our Double-A Birmingham Barons were hosting the Montgomery Biscuits, mourned the passing after learning the devastating news.

Our thoughts are with the Mays family, and fans everywhere. Mays will be deeply missed.

Now, on to the game. The Astros were without two of their star players, Kyle Tucker and Yordan Álvarez. Tucker took a foul ball to the shin two weeks ago, and Álvarez is out due to a family matter.

The first inning was sprinkled with two hits, a single for Alex Bregman and then one for Andrew Vaughn off Framber Valdez. The second inning was even more lackluster for both teams.

Korey Lee drew a walk to start the bottom of the third before the game was briefly paused, as Astros manager Joe Espada was ejected after complaining about a questionable José Altuve call in the top of the inning.

Danny Mendick singled once the game resumed, and a wild pitch from Valdez during Tommy Pham’s at-bat allowed Lee and Mendick to advance to second and third with no outs. Pham drew a walk to load the bases, as Valdez struggled to command his curveball. The Astros tried to execute a double play with Vaughn’s broken-bat grounder, but failed after a high flip from Jeremy Peña. Lee scored and Mendick advanced to third with Pham out at second and Vaughn safe at first.

Out for revenge, Peña initiated another double play and succeeded on Luis Robert Jr.’s grounder to end the inning. The White Sox had the first lead of the game at 1-0.

The fourth was an uneventful inning with Cannon allowing only one hit, an Alex Bregman single. Valdez mowed down the White Sox with a 1-2-3 inning.

Cannon had a quick inning with help from Korey Lee gunning down Trey Cabbage who was trying to steal second; Lee is just crushing the hopes of most base-stealers with a lightning-fast pop time and strong arm.

Corey Julks drew a four-pitch walk to start the inning, and then another walk was issued to Lee and again to Pham. Julks later scored on a Vaughn single, but with two on and two out Robert ended the inning on a liner.

Due to his dominating presence, Cannon was back on the mound for the eighth inning and wrapped it up 1-2-3, shutting the Astros out through eight with an economical 93 pitches.

The rookie came back out for the ninth, issuing a complete game watch. With one out to go, Cannon unfortunately gave up two singles, and was pulled with 106 pitches. Boo! Right move, but still boo. John Brebbia took his place on the mound and ended the game with Caratini grounding out to first. Cannon got his first win in the majors, shutting out the Astros.

Futility Watch

White Sox 2024 Record 20-54, worst 74-game start in White Sox history (3 1⁄2 games ahead of the next-worst, 1948 White Sox)
White Sox 2024 Run Differential -153, tied for the 29th-worst 74-game start in history
White Sox 2024 Season Record Pace 44-118 (.270)
Race to the Worst “Modern” 162-Game Record (2003 Tigers, 43-119) 1 game behind
Race to the Worst “Modern” Record in a 162-Game Season (1962 Mets, 40-120) 3 games behind
Race to the Most White Sox Losses (1970, 106) 12 games ahead
Race to the Worst White Sox Record (1932, 52-109-1*) 8 1⁄2 games ahead
Race to the Worst American League Record (1916 A’s, 38-124*) 6 games behind
*record adjusted to a 162-game season