The offense continues to sputter, wasting good work from the bullpen and defense.
It was a disappointing end to the road trip on Thursday as the quiet Detroit Tigers ’ offense fought back to tie a close, low-scoring affair, only to come up empty the rest of the way, losing in 10 innings to split the four-game set with the White Sox .
The Tigers have not been having the stop in Chicago they might have expected. The White Sox felt like they should be an easy sweep for the Tigers, and yet the Sox have been pesky throughout the series. The Thursday afternoon game was no exception. Casey Mize was on the mound for the Tigers and struggled mightily with locating the strike zone, throwing over 60 pitches through the first two innings. Sean Burke was up for the White Sox, and threw considerably fewer pitches.
This was a very low-scoring outing initially, so don’t be surprised by quick turnover between innings in this recap.
Kerry Carpenter got a two-out single in the top of the first, but the Tigers weren’t able to bring him home. In the home half, things got unpleasant for Mize almost right away. With one out Chase Meidroth walked. Edgar Quero then singled, and right after him, Andrew Benintendi walked to load the bases. Mize turned it around to pitch out of the jam and the Sox were not able to score any runs.
Wenceel Perez singled to start the second inning. Zach McKinstry then singled, but Perez was out trying to leg it out to third. McKinstry stole second, but two outs meant they were unable to bring the run in. In the home half Josh Rojas doubled to start the inning. With two outs, Mize really struggled with his command, giving up back-to-back walks to Mike Tauchman and Chase Meidroth. But once again, Mize pitched out of the jam.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the third. Thankfully, Mize pulled out a six-pitch inning in the home half and the Sox also went down in order.
The fourth was another 1-2-3 inning for the Tigers. Things got uneven real fast again in the fourth, with Rojas and Michael A. Taylor getting singles back-to-back. A sac bunt by Vinny Capra advanced the runners, then a Tauchman sac fly brought Rojas in to score. A Meidroth single scored Taylor, and the Sox were up 2-0 at the end of the fourth.
To mixed boos and cheers, Javier Baez got a one-out single in the fifth, but he was the only Tigers baserunner. With one out in the home half, Joshua Palacios singled. One out later, Mize’s day was done, going 4 2⁄3 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K on 93 pitches. Brant Hurter came out of the pen. Hurter got the final out of the inning.
It was another three-up, three-down outing for the Tigers in the top of the sixth. In the bottom of the inning, Taylor started things off with a single. Capra flied out thanks to a super excellent sliding catch from Parker Meadows, then a double play ended the inning.
With one out in the top of the seventh, Perez hit a solo homer.
McKinstry followed with a single. With two outs, a pinch-hitting Colt Keith fought with Burke for 9 pitches before getting a walk. Dillon Dingler came in to pinch hit and a perfectly located bloop single managed to score McKinstry, before Keith got caught in a rundown to end the inning. The score was tied 2-2.
In the bottom of the inning, Meidroth singled, then Quero singled. Not ideal. But Beintendi hit into a double play, and Brenan Hanifee came in to face pinch-hitter Austin Slater and got the final out of the inning.
Gleyber Torres got a one-out walk against new pitcher Cam Booser. A wild pitch with two outs allowed Torres to advance to second. Torkelson took a walk that was somehow both an at-bat and an intentional walk? Cool. Even with two baserunners, though, the Tigers couldn’t take the lead, and left both men stranded. In the home half, Josh Rojas got a one-out single. The Tigers did manage to keep the score tied, getting the next two outs and leaving Rojas stranded.
Dan Altavilla was the newest White Sox reliever in for the top of the ninth. Baez got a one-out single. Two outs ended the inning with no runs scored. Tommy Kahnle came in for the ninth, hoping to keep the Tigers alive to get into extras. With one out, Kahnle really suffered with finding the zone and walked Meidroth. A double play then ended the inning and we’re headed to the tenth!
In the tenth, with Dingler as the ghost runner, Parker Meadows took a walk. Steven Wilson came out in relief. With two outs, Torkelson did a good impression of a home run, but it fell short and was caught on the warning track to end the inning. In extras on the road, that’s generally a loss and so that was how it turned out.
Beau Brieske took over from Kahnle as the Sox inserted pinch-runner Korey Lee in as the starting runner on second in place of Edgar Quero. A rare decision by AJ Hinch saw Brieske walk left-handed leadoff hitter Andrew Benintendi to set up the double play. Will Venable had other plans as Austin Slater dropped down a bunt to move both runners up 90 feet and remove all the force plays as Brieske fielded the bunt and got the out at first.
Tim Elko flailed at a first pitch slider for strike one, and so Dingler called for it again. This time Brieske left it up in the zone and Elko smacked a sharp grounder into left field to score Lee in a walkoff victory.
The 41-23 Tigers come home to tackle the Cubs this weekend holding a 5.5 game lead over the Minnesota Twins. Tarik Skubal will have the ball in Game 1, while the Cubs are still in TBD mode.