HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610) -- Lance McCullers Jr. did not seem worried about how to attack this Chicago White Sox team when he talked to reporters a little more than 24 hours leading up to Thursday's ALDS game one.
McCullers respects the American League Central champion White Sox for the talented group it is, but he understands his stuff plays against anyone, as long as he's locating his pitches.
That has not been much of a problem for McCullers, who turned in career highs in wins (13), starts (28), innings (162.1) and strikeouts (185) this regular season. He also posted a career best 3.16 ERA and opponent batting average (.205), which rank him second and first, respectively, among American League qualified pitchers. He was also first in opponent OPS (.628) among qualified AL pitchers.
So how did all of this manifest itself Thursday against the White Sox, who McCullers, who dominated the White Sox in two starts against them this season (2-0, 2.08 ERA in 13 innings)?
McCullers is the first Astros pitcher to go more than 6.2 scoreless innings in a postseason game allowing no walks since Brandon Backe in the 2005 World Series (game four, also against the White Sox).
It was stress free for McCullers until his pitch count went up in the sixth, but the Astros had already offered enough run support to hold a comfortable lead.
While McCullers did hit one batter, this was his first outing of the season in which he did not walk a batter.
Brandon Scott manages digital content for SportsRadio 610. Follow him on Twitter @brandonkscott.
