A close fought game did not go the Detroit Tigers way on Saturday as some of their biggest bats continued their recent struggles. The batted ball luck didn’t help matters, and Troy Melton finally had a bit of a rough start. Still, the Tigers had their chances as the White Sox held on to win 4-3. They will be hunting a sweep on Sunday.
Things did not start off auspiciously for Troy Melton in this one. Needing a good start to help even up the series, Melton had one of his toughest outings of the season.
Sam Antonacci ripped a first pitch heater for a double to start the game, and Munetaka Murakami drew a walk. Melton bounced back, striking out Miguel Vargas, and getting Andrew Benintendi on a fly out. Unfortunately, Braden Montgomery singled through the right side, scoring Antonacci before Melton struck out Colson Montgomery to end the inning.
Facing lefty Anthony Kay, the Tigers got walks to Hao-Yu Lee and then Kevin McGonigle with two outs. Eduardo Valencia singled into center field to score Lee, but Spencer Torkelson struck out. So we had a 1-1 tie after one inning.
Melton got ambushed a bit again in the second, as Chase Meidroth and Tristan Peters led off with singles. Jake Rogers grounded into a double play, thanks Jake, and Melton whiffed Antonacci with a good curveball. However, Kay tossed a quick 1-2-3 inning, getting Ben Malgeri, Javier Báez, and freezing Corey Julks for strike three after Rogers correctly challenged.
Murakami got an 0-1 slider away to start the third, and ripped a line drive up the left center field gap for a leadoff double. Vargas grounded out, but Benintendi reached on an infield single. Braden Montgomery grounded one to Torkelson, who fired home to Valencia to get Murakami while Benintendi and Montgomery aggressively took second and third. Melton needed an out to escape but instead Colson Montgomery doubled to right, scoring both runs. 3-1 White Sox. Not ideal.
Gleyber Torres lined a single to right to start the bottom of the third, but the Tigers big bats were still quiet as Lee struck out, Dillon Dingler flew out, and Kevin McGonigle grounded out to end the inning.
Even in the fourth, Melton gave up a leadoff single to Peters, but he snuffed any further rallying by getting the next three in order.
Eduardo Valencia continued to provide the offense in the bottom of the fourth as Kay left a 2-2 changeup just up in the zone, and the rookie launched it into the Tigers bullpen to make it a 3-2 game. That was his sixth home run of the season. The Tigers went in order from there, though.
Melton’s struggles continued in the fifth as Vargas led off with a double. Melton got Benintendi on a grounder, but his day was done at that point as Drew Sommers took over. The big lefty did a nice job striking out both Montgomerys to strand Vargas, although Valencia blew the Tigers second challenge on a ball to Colson before Sommers bent a sweeper in there to lock him up. Having no challenges at this point of the game is scary.
Finally in the bottom half the Tigers did tie things up. Back-to-back doubles from Julks and Torres made it a 3-3 game. Lee grounded out, and Dingler’s frustrations over the last three series continued as he lined out to shortstop and Torres got caught leaning and was doubled off to end the inning. Still, we had a new ballgame at 3-3 heading into the final four frames.
Sommers got Meidroth to ground out to open the sixth. Peters tried to bunt for some reason and was thrown out. Sommers blew away Rogers, and finally the Tigers had another 1-2-3 inning and had a chance to seize control in the bottom half. It didn’t start off well, as Kay got McGonigle to ground out. That was the last batter Will Venable wanted his starter to face, and so Kay’s day was done, and hard-throwing sinkerballer Jordan Hicks took over.
Hicks has never really managed to get his control issues smoothed out for long, but he continues to strike out a good amount of hitters and doesn’t give up many home runs at all. Valencia nearly hammered an 0-1 breaking ball but he pulled it foul. A lengthy battle ended with a blooper for an out to Murakami at first, and Hicks blew away Torkelson at 99 mph to send us to the seventh.
Venable pinch-hit Randal Grichuk in for Antonacci, and he drilled a drive to center field for a leadoff double to start the seventh. We’ve seen too much of this. Sommers blew Murakami away for the first out, and AJ Hinch made the rare move of walking Vargas intentionally. The idea was to set up Sommers against Benintendi to get the ground ball, and they got it, but it was hit hard enough to get past a diving McGonigle at shortstop. He got a bit of glove on it, killing the speed of the ball as it bounced into left field, and Grichuk scored easily while Vargas went first to third. 4-3 White Sox.
That was the end for Sommers, and Kyle Finnegan took over against Braden Montgomery, and the Tigers really needed some good Finnegan here. They got it, as he whiffed Montgomery with a splitter, and Colson flew out to Javy Báez in center field.
Max Clark got the first part of the game off but entered to pinch-hit for Malgeri against Hicks in the bottom of the seventh. He hit one hard, but Colson Montgomery leapt to snare it for the first out. Báez struck out, and Zach McKinstry pinch-hit for Julks. Hicks whiffed him on a splitter, and we were on to the eighth.
McKinstry took over in right field, with Clark in center, and Báez over in left as the inning began. Finnegan faced Meidroth to start the inning. He got a ground out from him, and Peters lined out to McKinstry. Rogers grounded out and it was the Tigers’ turn.
Hard-throwing Grant Taylor took over for the White Sox, and Torres pulled a single to left to lead off. Unfortunately, Colt Keith pinch hit for Lee and grounded one to first for a double play. Dingler’s struggles continued as he struck out and we were on to the ninth.
Tanner Rainey entered for the Tigers in the top half. He gave up a leadoff single to Grichuk, and Brenton Doyle pinch ran for him and was cut down by Valencia trying to steal second. Nice throw. Rainey struck out Murakami and Vargas lined out to McKinstry. So, it was last call for the Tigers down 4-3.
Lefty Bryan Hudson took over to close this out for the White Sox. McGonigle put together a good AB, but a sharply hit ball to right field was run down at the warning track by Braden Montgomery. Valencia was frozen by a heater on the inner edge, and Spencer Torkelson flew out to center field to end it.
The White Sox extend their lead in the AL Central to 4.5 games in the process. Tough time for Dingler, Keith, and McGonigle to cool off, at least briefly, but we’re getting a good look at the fact that the White Sox are a legitimately good, deep team. The pitching matchup should’ve favored the Tigers with Melton vs. the lefty Kay, but it didn’t quite work out that way.
The Tigers weren’t going to run the table all the way to the end of the season. Some rough spots had to be expected, but there are 39 games remaining, and the Tigers have worked their way right into the thick of the AL playoff picture. They will look to salvage a game in the series and re-group on Sunday. RHP Drew Anderson will take on a tough opponent in RHP Sean Burke at 1:40 p.m. ET.
