The rubber match of a three game series with the White Sox was a sloppy game full of poor pitching and poor hitting. Unfortunately for the home team, the visitors came out on top after multiple Tigers pitchers imploded and the bats snoozed.
Righty Charlie Morton was on the bump for the Tigers. He’s had decidedly mixed results since the trade deadline deal that brought him to the D, including allowing 11 earned runs in his last two starts. The White Sox led off with a Mike Tauchman single to right. A liner that Colt Keith dropped initially was a prime double play candidate, but Keith misplayed it by throwing to first instead of second and the Tigers only got the batter, moving Tauchman to second. A walk put two on and it was looking like a replay of Morton’s last two games. He did get a strikeout of Colson Montgomery with a curveball, but Andrew Benintendi took a 3-2 count curveball deep to right center, doubling in two runs. A scalded ground ball was handled by Torres for the last out, but the Tigers were already down early and Morton had thrown 33 pitches in just an inning.
Chicago’s starter was righty Davis Martin. He has a propensity for walking batters and showed that immediately by walking Gleyber Torres. Kerry Carpenter smashed a ground rule double to left center, a fly ball that bounced over the bullpen fence. Riley Greene battled and worked a walk, loading the bases with nobody out. Spencer Torkelson flew out to shallow center, not deep enough to score a run…normally, that is. The throw home was way off-line, the catcher whiffed on it, and the pitcher didn’t back it up properly. All of that meant that the throw went into the dugout, allowing two runners to score. A deep sac fly scored the final baserunner as the Tigers took a 3-2 lead. Martin got out of the inning, but his own wild pitching combined with baffling Chicago defense meant the Tigers were back in business.
Morton got two quick outs, but walked the number 9 and 1 hitters for the south siders. It was looking ugly, but a ground ball to Tork led to the third out. Jam escaped, but Morton was at 56 pitches through just two innings.
The Tigers got a two-out walk from Parker Meadows, but that’s all in the bottom of the frame.
In the top of the third, Morton gave up a 451’ home run to Lenyn Sosa. Per the broadcast, it was the longest of the year at Comerica. Not ideal. A single followed, but Morton picked him off at first with some great footwork and a pinpoint throw. The White Sox challenged the play and lost, losing their challenge. Torres snagged a line drive, robbing a hit, then a Morton K ended things.
Detroit went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.
AJ Hinch went to his bullpen in the fourth, bringing in lefty Tyler Holton. He got two quick outs, but Miedroth singled. That guy is rapidly turning into a Tiger Killer. Holton froze Tauchman with a great sinker for strike three and the final out, though.
The Tigers struck back in the fourth. Wenceel Pérez doubled to lead off the inning. A groundout moved him to third, and a sac fly from Zack McKinstry drove him home for a 4-3 Tigers lead. That was all they’d get, but it broke the tie.
Holton stayed out for the fifth. He got Teel swinging, then the Tigers brought in Troy Melton. Melton has been pretty fantastic so far as a rookie on an innings limit. He got a quick second out but unraveled from there. He walked two straight batters and threw a wild pitch before hitting Curtis Mead in the hand. He got to a 3-0 count on the next batter but was able to induce a grounder to end the threat. Everybody exhale.
Martin was still out there for the Sox in the bottom of the fifth. Two quick outs led to Carpenter up and trying to make something happen. An ongoing problem for the White Sox then occurred: poor defense. Carpenter’s bat hit the catcher’s mitt on a swing, resulting in catcher interference and, after a won Detroit challenge, Carpenter on first. However, Greene grounded out to stop anything else.
A leadoff hit (that bounced off of Torres’s glove) greeted Melton in the sixth. A 98 mph fastball got Miedroth swinging; it was followed by a quick fly ball out and ground out.
Tork smacked a ball to left field that cleared the fence…unfortunately, left fielder Robertson made an astonishing leaping catch to bring it back, robbing Tork of a clear home run. Gotta tip your cap at that effort. That was also the end of the day for Martin, having gone 5.1 IP and giving up 4 runs, yet somehow holding the Tigers to only 2 hits. Lefty Brandon Eisert relieved him but immediately gave up a double to Pérez. Andy Ibáñez pinch-hit for Keith, but struck out. McKinstry popped out, stranding Wenceel and wasting a good scoring chance.
With one out in the seventh, Melton walked back to back guys again. Hinch had seen enough, pulling him and going to Tommy Kahnle. Kahnle has been better of late, and AJ was banking on him escaping this jam. A deep flyout moved up the runner on second but put the Tigers one step closer to escaping with the lead. In the way of that was Robertson, the man who robbed a home run earlier. Kahnle hung a change-up which got sliced to right for a frustrating run-scoring single. Luckily, a ball to Tork was snagged, ending the jam. Tie game again going into the bottom of the frame.
Jake Rogers laced a baseball to the left field corner to lead off the bottom of the seventh with a double. Meadows grounded out to the pitcher, not advancing him. The White Sox brought in right-hander Grant Taylor to face Torres. Taylor’s a flamethrower with a 100 mph fastball, but can be wild. In the middle of a battle from Torres, a wild pitch advanced Rogers to third. However, Torres then struck out on a 99 mph fastball, leaving it up to Carpenter to score the run. He froze on a fastball away, striking out and stranding the runner. Womp Womp noises.
Kahnle was still on the mound for the eighth. This proved to be a mistake. Two straight singles put runners on the corners, then a walk loaded them with nobody out. Will Vest was brought in and he lit the accumulated fuel on fire, allowing a two-run single. A Rogers snap throw to third picked off a runner, but the White Sox argued he was safe. They didn’t have a challenge though, so there was nothing else they could do. A strikeout brought things closer to being over, but Benintendi got on base for the fourth time by singling to left. A grounder finished the awful, no good inning, but the damage had been done.
The White Sox brought in their closer, Jordan Leasure, to try to close out the game. With two outs, Pérez walked, but pinch-hitter Dillon Dingler struck out to end the eighth.
Rafael Montero relieved Vest. He gave up a walk, but otherwise escaped unscathed.
It was down to the final three outs for the home team looking to avoid a series loss. They had to contend with righty Mike Vasil. McKinstry grounded out. Rogers watched a meatball right down the center for a strikeout. Meadows grounded out and that was that.
Overall, it was a subpar effort for the team. The offense only managed four hits and the pitching was incredibly frustrating. A Tigers pitching staff that has generally been good about limiting walks issued nine of them in this one, and you aren’t going to win many that way. Dropping 2 of 3 at home against a bad team like the White Sox is not ideal despite their better play in the second half. Things don’t get easier from here, especially with a trip to the Bronx up next. Detroit takes on the surging New York Yankees on Tuesday.
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