Against White Sox, Ronel Blanco looks to lead ascending Astros to sixth consecutive win

Ronel Blanco will have a tough act to follow when he makes his second start in more than a year on Sunday for the Houston Astros against the host Chicago White Sox.

Fellow right-hander Hunter Brown stymied the White Sox on Saturday over seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits, in a 4-1 victory that saw that Astros move into second place in the American League West, two games behind the Texas Rangers.

Blanco (0-0, 7.71) had not pitched since May 2025 when he took the mound on Monday against the Miami Marlins. He didn't get a decision in the 8-5 win after allowing four earned runs on two hits -- both home runs -- in 4 2/3 innings with three walks and eight strikeouts.

Of his 86 pitches, 55 were strikes.

"Just focused on throwing a lot of strikes and attacking the zone because they're a team that doesn't go out of the zone too often," Blanco said after the game. "So that was the main focus."

In his most recent full season, 2024, Blanco was 13-6 with a 2.80 ERA with 166 strikeouts in 167 1/3 innings.

Blanco has only faced the White Sox once in his career in a two-inning relief stint in which he did not allow a run, walked a batter and struck out four. That was in 8-4 victory on April 1, 2023, in which Blanco left without a decision.

The Astros have won five consecutive games. On Saturday, Brown got help from Isaac Paredes, who drove in three runs on two hits, and Jeremy Pena, who finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Josh Hader got the final two outs for his 12th save.

On Sunday, right-hander Erick Fedde (5-6, 4.16) will start for the White Sox, trying to avoid a series sweep after a 9-5 loss in the series opener on Friday. He has made two career starts against the Astros and is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA.

His most recent start was a no-decision in a 10-3 win over the host Texas Rangers on Monday. Fedde gave up two runs and four hits in four innings, did not walk a batter and struck out six.

Chicago could be without shortstop Colson Montgomery on Sunday.

Before hitting a single that drove in Chicago's only run of the game in the ninth inning on Saturday, Montgomery fouled a pitch off the same spot on his shin/calf area as he had in a game during the team's previous series in Texas.

Even though he was wearing a shin guard, Montgomery immediately fell, and the team's trainer came out to tend to him. He stayed in the game, then lined a pitch into the right-field corner that usually would have been an easy double. But Montgomery held at first for a single.

"It was just above where it got him the other day, so pretty sore," manager Will Venable said. "Obviously was able to finish that at-bat. He'll get treatment and see where we're at tomorrow."

The White Sox are 6-4 in their past 10 games but have lost two in a row. With Cleveland's 3-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday, Chicago stayed 1 1/2 games ahead of the Guardians in the American League Central.

--Field Level Media