HOUSTON _ White Sox players sat on couches and armchairs around the visiting clubhouse at Minute Maid Park on Friday afternoon, watching TVs with interest as the 19-inning game between the Indians and Blue Jays carried on.
Both teams stand in front of the Sox, with the Indians and their 14-game winning streak leading the American League Central and the Blue Jays leading the Sox in the American League wild-card standings.
Somewhere in the middle of the extra innings, the Sox players jumped up to attend a hitters meeting. After all, the Sox's greater worry this weekend is the hot Astros _ also ahead of them in the wild-card standings _ if they want to extend their streak of three series victories.
But despite right-hander Miguel Gonzalez's solid effort, the Sox couldn't cool off the Astros in a 5-0 loss. The Astros have gone 19-8 in June and the first day of July.
The Sox, on the other hand, suffered their fourth shutout of the season and their second in four days. They have scored three or fewer runs in 39 of their 80 games this year as they dropped back to .500.
Gonzalez had one of his worst starts of the year the last time out against the Blue Jays, allowing a season-high eight earned runs on 10 hits in 51/3 innings. But he pitched a season-high seven innings, allowing three runs _ two earned _ on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts to keep the Sox within striking distance.
"Gonzo has been able to bounce back when he has had tough ones," Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "Hopefully he can get the cutter over, and the changeup. When he has that going, he's usually pretty good, and we're looking for more of that out of him."
Gonzalez pitched three perfect innings before he hit George Springer with a pitch and walked Luis Valbuena with no outs in the fourth. He prompted Jose Altuve to ground into a double play, but Carlos Correa's soft popup fell into the infield grass in front of shortstop Tim Anderson for an RBI infield single.
Correa reached on third baseman Tyler Saladino's throwing error in the seventh, and Carlos Gomez followed with a two-run homer to left field for a 3-0 Astros lead.
Sox reliever Chris Beck gave up two eighth-inning runs, on Valbuena's RBI double to left field and Colby Rasmus' RBI single to center field.
The Sox may not have missed injured left fielder Melky Cabrera against the weak Twins the last two days, but they certainly could have used a better bat Friday night against the Astros.
Cabrera sat out his third straight game with a sprained right wrist. Ventura said he's itching to play and might return Sunday for the series finale.
"It's a good thing for him to want to play," Ventura said. "I don't know if it's the best thing for him to play."
The Sox had four hits in six innings against Astros right-hander Mike Fiers, who stranded a pair of runners in both the second and fourth. The Sox went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position over the six innings he pitched. Three Astros relievers then completed the shutout, allowing just two ninth-inning baserunners.
Perhaps the closest the Sox came to scoring was when Jose Abreu cracked a sixth-inning pitch high to left-center field, but Gomez caught it not far from the wall marking 404 feet.
