Without Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, the Astros’ lineup is pretty thin, especially when a pitcher gets past the first four hitters. Or sometimes three, depending on who’s in the outfield. Garrett Crochet and the White Sox pitchers certainly didn’t have much trouble, especially when the top three hitters in the batting order — Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Yainer Díaz — were limited to two hits and one RBI with six strikeouts. Four of those came to Díaz alone. Jake Meyers, batting sixth, actually did the most damage against the Chicago pitcher, hitting a two-run home run in the sixth inning. Jon Singleton had a pinch-hit home run with two outs in the ninth inning. But the lineup was overall ineffective against one of baseball’s worst teams. I mean, 16 strikeouts and just two walks, even with Crochet as the starter, is a disappointment.

To be clear, the Astros need better performance from several hitters. Altuve, for example, has an OPS below .800 this season. He needs to improve. Díaz has been a reliable source of offense lately, aside from tonight’s golden sombrero. Peña’s batting recovery, however, has come more out of necessity than anything else. And again, without Tucker or Bregman, it doesn’t take long to see a drop-off in performance in this lineup.

I also think Houston now needs to figure out where Chas McCormick fits on this team, especially if Tucker returns. Batting ninth in this game, with an OPS of .551, is a precarious drop compared to his performance over the past few years. Even his outs aren’t impressive, his third-inning lineout clocked in at 81.5 mph and his sixth-inning groundball clocked in at 56.8 mph.

For the White Sox, it was basically the Luis Robert Jr. show. The center fielder was responsible for four of Chicago’s five runs and made life difficult for Spencer Arrighetti and Houston’s bullpen. Of course, it doesn’t help when Robert Jr. has a four-seam fastball in the zone.

Arrighetti was not at his best in this game, allowing four runs on seven hits and two walks in just four innings. There were also five strikeouts, but the rookie right-hander needed 93 pitches to get 12 outs. Unfortunately, not his most efficient start. But the bullpen held the White Sox to just one run despite some ineffectiveness in the final five innings. This point is nothing to brag about, but it at least offered an opportunity to get back in the game, which they did, but just missed the win.

Fortunately, the Astros didn’t lose their lead in the AL West race despite both the Mariners and Rangers losing. Hunter Brown will start on Saturday and hopefully he can avoid a losing streak.