Adrian Houser Provides Quality Start In Chicago White Sox Debut

CHICAGO – Adrian Houser opted out of his contract with the Texas Rangers organization, not knowing where his next chance would come. 

But feeling like he’d pitched well enough with the Triple-A Round Rock Express, he bet on himself and tested the free agency waters. It was a quick process, but when an offer came in to return to the major leagues with the White Sox, he couldn’t pass it up. He drove home to Tulsa, dropped off his truck and made it to Chicago to start Tuesday’s game against the Mariners.

Houser quickly became familiar with catcher Edgar Quero as he prepared for an outing that was unique from his previous 104 big league starts. He didn’t know most of the roster, and he had to wait out an hour and 35-minute rain delay before making his first big league start since May 21, 2024.

But none of what Houser described as a “whirlwind” seemed to affect his performance on the mound. In a 1-0 win over the Mariners, he provided six scoreless innings with just two hits. 

“These opportunities don't come very often, so you don't want to fumble it,” Houser said. “You want to be able to go out there and win games for your team and do everything you can to stay up here. … Pumped, excited, all the feelings. It's just exciting to get back up here and help contribute to win a major league baseball game."

Houser, along with Brandon Eisert, Steven Wilson, Cam Booser and Jordan Leasure combined for a four-hit shutout, and Joshua Palacios provided the lone RBI. With this win, the White Sox improved to 15-34 and set up a rubber match against the Mariners on Wednesday at 1:10 p.m. CT at Rate Field. Right-hander Shane Smith takes the mound with a 2.05 ERA, looking to give the White Sox their third series win in the last four.

The White Sox announced prior to Tuesday’s game they signed Houser to a one-year, $1.35 million contract. Yoendrys Gómez was designated for assignment to make room for Houser, who’ll be in the starting rotation going forward as right-hander Bryse Wilson moves back to the bullpen. Houser’s last start came with Triple-A Round Rock, a scoreless outing across 8.2 innings.

On Tuesday, he allowed a leadoff single to J.P. Crawford, but from then on, he was sharp. He induced a double play in the next at-bat, then got out of the first inning with a popout by Cal Raleigh. 

Houser got into a groove, retiring six of the next seven batters, and got some run support with an RBI single by Palacios to put the White Sox up 1-0 through three innings. That proved to be just enough, thanks to the White Sox pitching staff’s first shutout since May 1 and third of the season. 

The biggest threat Houser faced the rest of the night came in the fourth with a one-out double by Raleigh, who advanced to third with two outs, but he got Rowdy Tellez to pop out and end the inning. His sinker sat in the mid-to-low 90s, and he struck out batters with his changeup and cutter.

“I don’t know him pretty well, but working with him today was really good,” Quero said. “He was executing with the two-seam and slider really well.”

He walked Dylan Moore in the fifth, but immediately bounced back with an inning-ending double play. Julio Rodriguez tried to get into scoring position during Raleigh’s at-bat in the sixth, but he got caught in a rundown after a pickoff attempt by Houser. 

Houser finished with six innings, two hits, zero earned runs, three walks and two strikeouts. That represents his first scoreless major league start since a five-inning outing on Oct. 1, 2023, when he pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers against the Chicago Cubs. 

Venable noted pregame that Houser’s “stuff ticked up this year,” and the pitcher agreed.

“Talking about working with Davis [Martin] and the guys we worked with this offseason, it didn't take them very long to find some stuff that I wasn't able to correct last year in New York and with some other teams,” Houser said. “Once I got there, they were able to figure it out and we worked on that all offseason. Going into spring training, everything felt great and right where we want them to be, so we've just been stacking on top of that."

For a moment, the late innings felt eerily similar to Monday’s 5-1 loss by the White Sox. In that game, reliever Cam Booser gave up a grand slam to Julio Rodriguez that put the Mariners ahead 5-0 in the eighth. Booser entered in the eighth on Tuesday, but this time – with the bases loaded again – he struck out Mitch Garver and got Rodriguez to fly out to end the inning.

“Thankful Will had the trust to go right back to you and it’s kind of funny how the game works,” Booser said. “Same situation, back to back nights, facing the same hitters. So, yeah, I just wanted to come out tonight and try to challenge them and happy we came out with it.”

Jordan Leasure entered for the save, which also came with a bit of stress. After retiring the first two batters, he allowed a double to Donovan Solano. But clinging to a one-run lead, Leasure fanned with a fastball on the low and outside corner to end the game.