Chicago White Sox at Houston Astros

The intensity built with every zero that appeared on the scoreboard at Daikin Park on Wednesday, especially in the home dugout. The Astros, fighting to protect their American League West lead, were in desperate need of a hit to not waste a gem of a performance from starting pitcher Hayden Wesneski. Things looked bleak when the White Sox loaded the bases with one out in the eighth inning against reliever AJ Blubaugh, who somehow escaped a mess. The Astros still needed a hero to emerge on offense, and Nelson Velázquez, in only his 10th game with Houston, delivered one of the season’s biggest hits. Velázquez drilled a two-run single to center field with two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth to break a scoreless tie and send the Astros to a 2-0 win. Wesneski threw seven scoreless innings and combined with Blubaugh and closer Josh Hader (22nd save) for a three-hit shutout.​ The Astros (71-69) won two of the first three games of the series to improve to 4-2 against the White Sox this year, taking the season series from Chicago. Houston also increased its divisional lead to two games over the Rangers, with the Astros owning the season tiebreaker. Here are three key storylines from Houston’s clutch win: **Wesneski’s emergence** The Astros haven’t had much success in recent years in pitchers rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, a list that includes Luis Garcia, José Urquidy and Cristian Javier. Even Ronel Blanco, who had TJ surgery around the same time as Wesneski early last year, has yet to return to pre-surgery form. That’s not the case for Wesneski. In his seventh start since missing 14 months, Wesneski threw seven scoreless innings while allowing only one hit, along with two walks and five strikeouts. Wesneski is the first Astros starting pitcher to finish seven innings since he did it himself on Aug. 10 at the Giants. He has a 3.18 ERA in 39 2/3 innings.