CHICAGO (Interstat) — Hunter Brown pitched seven shutout innings and the Houston Astros broke open a scoreless game with a three-run sixth inning, beating the Chicago White Sox 4-1 on Saturday at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Brown allowed three hits and struck out five while walking none. He improved to 2-1 on the season. Josh Hader allowed one run in the ninth but secured his 12th save. The Astros have won two straight after losing four of their previous five.

Sean Burke took the loss despite a strong outing. The White Sox right-hander struck out 10 over six innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs. He fell to 7-5. Burke retired the first nine batters he faced and had allowed only one hit through five innings.

The game remained scoreless until the top of the sixth. Cam Smith led off by getting hit by a pitch. Jeremy Peña followed with a single to left field that was deflected by shortstop Colson Montgomery, sending Smith to second. Yordan Alvarez walked to load the bases. Isaac Paredes then grounded a ball to right field that scored Smith, Peña and Alvarez, but the inning was aided by a fielding error by right fielder Braden Montgomery. Paredes ended up at third on the play. Jose Altuve grounded out and LaMonte Wade Jr. struck out, but the Astros led 3-0.

Houston tacked on an insurance run in the eighth. Peña led off with a single to right. After Yordan Alvarez struck out, Isaac Paredes lined a single to right that scored Peña for a 4-0 advantage.

The White Sox finally broke through in the ninth against Hader. Miguel Vargas led off with a single to center that was misplayed by center fielder Lucas Spence, allowing Vargas to advance to second. Colson Montgomery then singled to right, driving in Vargas. But Luisangel Acuña struck out and Braden Montgomery struck out to end the game.

Peña and Paredes each had two hits for Houston, which totaled six hits in the game. The Astros struck out 15 times but capitalized in the two decisive innings.

Chicago managed five hits. Montgomery had the RBI single. Munetaka Murakami singled and Vargas singled. The White Sox left five runners on base. They did not record an extra-base hit.

The most important sequence of the game occurred in the sixth inning, when Houston’s first three batters reached base and Paredes’ ground ball produced three runs. Burke had been dominant to that point, striking out eight of the first 15 hitters. But Smith’s hit-by-pitch and Peña’s bloop single set the stage. Alvarez worked a full-count walk, and Paredes’ seeing-eye grounder changed the complexion of the contest.

White Sox reliever Trevor Richards pitched two innings of relief, allowing two hits and one earned run with two strikeouts. Tyler Schweitzer tossed a scoreless eighth, striking out one.

Attendance was 30,029. The game lasted 2 hours, 44 minutes.

Houston improved to 52-54. Chicago fell to 54-49. The Astros won the first game of this three-game series after a 9-5 victory Friday night. The teams conclude the set Sunday afternoon before Houston heads to Anaheim and Chicago hosts the New York Yankees in a four-game series.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Chicago White Sox 7, Houston Astros 4. Interstat’s ELO system gave Chicago a 50.90 percent probability to win. Houston had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total score of 5 went over the over/under line of 8.