HOUSTON – With techno music blaring, Dallas Keuchel emerged from a thick fog in the darkened clubhouse as multicolored beams of light danced around him, illuminating his bushy beard and he smiled.
Keuchel had just wrapped up a four-hitter where he struck out a career-high 11 to lead the Houston Astros to a 3-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday. Afterward, the Astros celebrated Keuchel's win by transforming the clubhouse into a club, complete with a strobe light, fog machine and multiple lamps that projected lights of all colors.
"I just continue to pitch well and hopefully help this team win and have a dance party in here afterward if we win," Keuchel said.
Keuchel (7-1) pitched his second career shutout and first since May 13, 2014. He didn't walk a batter and finished with a major league-leading 1.76 ERA.
Houston improved to 31-19, tying the 1998 team that won a franchise-high 102 times for the best 50-game start in team history.
"It's nice to be a part of something like that where the past two years we were pretty much down and everybody counted us out," first baseman Chris Carter said.
Evan Gattis and Carter hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth.
"He was great," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said of Keuchel. "I don't know if we faced anybody as tough as him."
