Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Gavin Floyd has been an enigma in the 2012 season posting a 5.32 ERA despite talent (and peripherals) that would suggest otherwise. He's been especially poor at home, giving up 7 homers in 40 innings and posting a 5.63 ERA going into tonight's start vs. the Houston Astros. In that start, he did nothing to reverse his fortunes, taking the loss in an 8-3 Astros victory.
The longball stung Floyd again, with Brett Wallace and Jed Lowrie each hitting a homer, the latter of which put 4-1 in the fifth. That said, there were some encouraging signs for Floyd, most notably that he struck out nine batters in his six innings. The four earned runs he relinquished also only came on four hits.
The White Sox hitters got to Astros ace Wandy Rodriguez, scoring three runs on nine hits and knocking him out after just 5.1 innings. But the Houston bullpen was stellar, throwing 3.2 innings of shutout ball and only giving up three hits.
The two teams will take the field on Saturday at 3:10 p.m. CT.
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