Sep 29, 2020 3 min read

Lucas Giolito dazzled in his postseason debut, stymieing the Oakland Athletics through six perfect innings and sending the Chicago White Sox to a 4-1 victory in the opener of their best-of-three wild-card series Tuesday.

Giolito (1-0) yelled in delight after striking out the side in the sixth, quickly walking back to the dugout with his arms to his side.

The right-hander, who pitched a no-hitter against Pittsburgh on Aug. 25, didn’t allow a baserunner to the AL West champions until Tommy La Stella’s single up the middle to start the seventh. Giolito gave up one run on two hits over seven innings, struck out eight and walked one before giving way to Evan Marshall after a stellar 100-pitch outing.

Giolito got plenty of support: José Abreu hit a two-run homer and Adam Engel also connected for Chicago. Yasmani Grandal homered in the eighth.

Alex Colome, Chicago’s third reliever, worked the ninth for a save.

Houston 4, Minnesota 1:

Tarnished by scandal at the start of the year and below average during this pandemic-abbreviated season, the Houston Astros showed up for the playoffs with their usual confidence and poise.

Just like that, they’ve got the edge on the Minnesota Twins in an elimination game.

Jose Altuve drew a walk to force in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning after a two-out error by shortstop Jorge Polanco, and the Astros beat the Twins 4-1 to open their AL playoff series and stretch Minnesota’s all-time postseason record to 17 straight losses.

Game 2 in the best-of-three wild-card matchup is Wednesday at Target Field.

Michael Brantley tacked on a two-run single against Caleb Thielbar in the ninth after Sergio Romo issued the full-count walk to the 5-foot-6 Altuve, who batted 127 points lower (.219) this year than his 2017 AL MVP season.

“He laid off a close pitch. It didn’t go my way,” said Romo, who has three World Series rings with San Francisco and pitched in his 30th career postseason game. “Tough pill to swallow.”

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli called for Romo, the fifth of six pitchers, to start the ninth. The Astros started with two singles, but Romo was about to escape with the tie preserved until Polanco’s throw to second base after a straight-at-him grounder was low to blow the forceout.

Framber Valdez, who made 10 regular-season starts, pitched five scoreless innings in relief of Zack Greinke for the victory to keep the bullpen fresh for the rest of the series.

Tampa Bay 3, Toronto 1: Blake Snell took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and the top-seeded Tampa Bay Rays opened the playoffs with a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Manuel Margot hit a two-run homer and Randy Arozarena tripled and scored on a wild pitch to give Snell and a dominant Rays bullpen all the offensive support needed to begin the best-of-three wild-card matchup.

The AL East champion Rays will try to advance Wednesday in Game 2 at Tropicana Field.

Snell allowed just two baserunners until Alejandro Kirk singled leading off the sixth. The 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner allowed one hit and struck out nine – tying a club postseason record – in 5 2/3 innings.

Diego Castillo, Nick Anderson and Pete Fairbanks followed Snell, limiting the Blue Jays to two singles, two doubles and Bo Bichette’s eighth-inning sacrifice fly the rest of the way.