Astros' win streak snapped as Arrighetti laments key miscue

HOUSTON -- The two home runs he allowed to White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. were bothersome to Astros rookie starter Spencer Arrighetti, but that’s not what was going to make him lose sleep Friday night. Instead, it was a close defensive play in the second inning, when a split-second could have saved him a run and perhaps changed the tone of a frustrating night.

Arrighetti gave up four runs in 5 2/3 innings, three of which came on swings by Robert -- a two-run homer in the third inning and a pop-fly homer in the fifth that traveled a Statcast-projected 329 feet and landed in the front row of the Crawford Boxes. That powered the White Sox to a 5-4 win over the Astros at Minute Maid Park as they saw their eight-game winning streak snapped.

"Kind of feels like the guy’s got my number right now,” Arrighetti said. “He hit the ball really hard a couple of times, three times to be exact. Every one of them, I kind of missed my spot a little bit and he punished me. Just really good hitting, so hats off to him."

As much as losing to the 93-loss White Sox stung, the Astros didn’t lose any ground in the American League West race with Seattle losing to Pittsburgh. Houston remains three games ahead of the Mariners.

"This was a pretty big game for us,” said White Sox starter Garrett Crochet, who gave up one run and struck out nine in four innings. “With not really any playoff aspirations, I think one of our M.O.'s is 'Well, let’s screw it up for everybody else.' We knew the Astros were on a heater, so this one definitely feels good."

Arrighetti, who had struck out 25 batters over his previous two starts, breezed through the first inning before loading the bases with two outs in the second. He got Dominic Fletcher to hit a grounder to first baseman Zach Dezenzo, who threw to second base for an out. Arrighetti dropped the relay throw at first, allowing a run to score from third base instead of completing a double play.

"That’s honestly what I will lose sleep over the most,” Arrighetti said. “That could have stopped the inning right there. It’s a lot different game. I’ll be better."

Arrighetti felt he was searching for the base with his foot while trying to catch a low throw from Jeremy Peña, which proved to be problematic.

"It was a little low and I’m scrambling and trying to find it,” he said. “I’m there, but not fully comfortable there. I just missed it."

Still, it was Robert who delivered the biggest blows.

The first homer came on a fastball that Robert crushed at 106.4 mph off the bat, sailing 415 feet over the railroad tracks in left field. That put the White Sox ahead, 3-0. His solo homer in the fifth was off a sweeper. Robert popped it up and watched it barely clear the wall. It wouldn’t have been a homer in any of the other 29 parks in the Majors.

"Coming back out and getting punched in the mouth in the second didn’t feel good,” Arrighetti said. “I was able to put together a game out of it. Obviously, I don’t want to give up four [runs], but I stayed in there and made some pitches when I needed to. It’s a way different game if I catch the ball at first base and keep the ball in the yard. It wasn’t a failure completely. There’s things I can look back at and think it was fine, but I just need to not miss my spots sometimes, especially when the guy in the box has power like that. It is what it is."

The Astros, who are playing without Kyle Tucker (shin) and Alex Bregman (elbow) on offense, drew within a run at 4-3 when Jake Meyers hit a two-run homer in the sixth of White Sox reliever Touki Toussaint. Later in the inning, the Astros had runners at second and third with two outs for Chas McCormick, who swung at the first pitch from reliever Justin Anderson and grounded out.

"We had some opportunities and couldn’t capitalize offensively,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. "I thought that Spencer had some really good stuff, just trouble with command. He left some pitches out over the plate. Luis Robert swung the bat really well and that was kind of the difference in tonight’s game."