Chicago led 4-0 through four innings in Houston, and the Astros had already used three pitchers.
AJ Blubaugh walked three and gave up a sacrifice fly to Munetaka Murakami before being pulled in the first. Sam Antonacci singled home two in the second. Colson Montgomery homered in the fourth.
How to watch
White Sox at Astros, AL Wild Card Game 1
Tuesday, Sept. 29 — 5:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 p.m. CT
Daikin Park, Houston
TV: NBC Sports Network
Spanish: Universo
Streaming: Peacock and Fubo, which offers a free trial for new subscribers
Radio: KBME 790 AM and 94.5 FM HD-2 in Houston, with Spanish on KLTN-TUDN 102.9 FM. ESPN Chicago WMVP 1000 AM, with TUDN in Spanish. ESPN Radio nationally.
Tom McCarthy calls it with Geoff Blum and Steve Stone, Adam Ottavino on the broadcast and Britney Eurton reporting.
Starters: LHP Hagen Smith for Chicago, RHP AJ Blubaugh for Houston. Both teams planned bullpen games.
Lineups
Chicago: Sam Antonacci LF, Kyle Teel C, Miguel Vargas 3B, Munetaka Murakami 1B, Andrew Benintendi DH, Tristan Peters CF, Braden Montgomery RF, Chase Meidroth 2B, Colson Montgomery SS.
Houston: Jeremy Peña SS, Yordan Álvarez DH, Isaac Paredes 3B, Jose Altuve 2B, Yainer Díaz C, Christian Walker 1B, Lucas Spence CF, Cam Smith RF, Taylor Trammell LF.
The series
Game 1 — Tuesday, Sept. 29, 5:00 p.m. ET
Game 2 — Wednesday, Sept. 30, 5:00 p.m. ET. Hunter Brown starts for Houston.
Game 3 — Thursday, Oct. 1, time TBD, if necessary
All three at Daikin Park. Houston is the No. 3 seed and hosts every game.
Chicago's lineup is younger and better than the record suggests
The White Sox lost more than 100 games in each of the last three seasons and are the first club ever to reach the playoffs after back-to-back 100-loss years. They finished 84-78 and spent 96 days in first place in the AL Central.
Miguel Vargas, born in Havana, led the team at 5.4 WAR with 33 home runs, 101 walks and 22 stolen bases. He made the All-Star team.
Munetaka Murakami hit .207 in his first major league season with 35 home runs, 92 walks and a 130 OPS+. Also an All-Star.
Chase Meidroth put up 4.5 WAR at 24. Tristan Peters had 3.6 and made the All-Star team. Sam Antonacci is 23, hit .277 with a .370 on-base percentage, and was hit by 29 pitches.
Colson Montgomery hit 31 home runs and struck out 227 times.
Grant Taylor has been the best arm in the bullpen — a 2.25 ERA in 84 innings with 106 strikeouts. Seranthony Domínguez, the Dominican closer, saved 12. Edgar Quero is Cuban. Rikuu Nishida is Japanese. Luisangel Acuña is Venezuelan.
Houston got here at .500
The Astros and Rangers both finished 81-81, and Houston won the division on the head-to-head tiebreaker. No team in the AL West finished above .500.
Yordan Álvarez hit .316/.432/.601 with 42 home runs, 106 RBIs and a 190 OPS+. The Cuban outfielder from Las Tunas drew 33 intentional walks and is the likely AL MVP.
Isaac Paredes, from Hermosillo, Mexico, put up 4.0 WAR. Jeremy Peña and Yainer Díaz are Dominican. Jose Altuve, the Venezuelan second baseman, is 36 and hit .250 with 0.0 WAR in his sixteenth season. Christian Vázquez is Puerto Rican. Carlos Correa played 32 games after returning.
Josh Hader has a 1.01 ERA with 26 saves and a 411 ERA+. Bryan Abreu is Dominican. Tatsuya Imai, the Japanese right-hander, made 23 appearances in his first major league season.
The rest of Tuesday
Phillies at Braves — Atlanta won Game 1, 5-3. Austin Riley hit a three-run homer off Jhoan Durán with two outs in the eighth. Chris Sale went 6⅓ with nine strikeouts. Full preview here.
Red Sox at Yankees, 8:00 p.m. ET — NBC and Peacock. Aaron Judge is off the roster with a calf injury.
Cubs at Padres, 10:00 p.m. ET — Peacock and NBC Sports Network
Division series begin Saturday, Oct. 3. The NLCS begins Oct. 11, the ALCS Oct. 12, the World Series Oct. 23.
Lineups, probables, broadcast details and statistics via MLB and Baseball Reference. Announcer assignments via Awful Announcing.