Colson Montgomery homers as White Sox beat Astros 6-3 in Wild Card opener

Colson Montgomery homered and Grant Taylor struck out five over the final 2 1/3 innings as the White Sox beat the Astros 6-3 Tuesday in Houston. Chicago leads the best-of-three American League Wild Card Series 1-0 and needs one more win to advance to a Division Series against Cleveland.

The White Sox got through their own bullpen game while taking advantage of Houston's trouble throwing strikes. AJ Blubaugh walked three batters in the first inning, and Sam Antonacci scored on Munetaka Murakami's sacrifice fly. Houston had to make its first pitching change before the inning ended.

Chicago kept pressing in the second. Braden Montgomery and Chase Meidroth singled, and Colson Montgomery was hit by a pitch to fill the bases. Antonacci's two-run single made it 3-0. The early traffic forced the Astros to work from behind before their offense had scored.

Colson Montgomery, batting ninth, added a 432-foot home run off Miguel Ullola in the fourth. MLB posted the drive, which pushed the lead to 4-0. Montgomery had hit 31 regular-season homers, according to MK Bower's Field Level Media recap; his postseason debut supplied another even after a difficult finish to the regular season.

Rookie left-hander Hagen Smith gave Chicago three scoreless innings, allowing two hits. In the third, he retired Yordan Alvarez with two outs and a runner on third. Scott Merkin's MLB report described Smith using cutters and sliders to attack Houston's hitters, with catcher Kyle Teel helping direct the plan.

Meidroth's fifth-inning infield single extended the lead to 5-0. Nelson Velázquez answered with a two-run pinch-hit homer off Sean Newcomb, but Murakami scored on a wild pitch in the seventh to restore a four-run margin. MLB's full Game 1 highlights show those exchanges.

Houston still put the tying run at the plate three times in the eighth, according to Brian McTaggart's MLB report. A throwing error brought in one run, but Taylor ended the inning by striking out Yainer Diaz. He finished the game on a career-high 54 pitches. The Astros went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and used eight pitchers.

Sean Burke is scheduled to face Hunter Brown in Wednesday's Game 2. Brown will pitch on four days of rest after Houston used its starters to secure the division over the final regular-season weekend. Chicago is seeking its first postseason series victory since sweeping Houston in the 2005 World Series.