Chicago — It just keeps happening. Expect anything different?
The Tigers’ season of misery penned another horrific chapter Friday night, when Miguel Vargas hit a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 4-3 White Sox win at a delirious Rate Field.
The White Sox tied the game in the ninth off Kyle Finnegan, and won it in the 10th when Vargas homered deep into the South Side night off arguably the Tigers’ most-reliable reliever for the past month, Drew Anderson.
The Tigers fell to 22-36. The White Sox improved to 30-27. The Tigers fell to 0-5 in extra-inning games, and they lost for the 20th time in a game in which they led at some point. That’s the most in baseball.
“It’s not (a) numb (feeling). It still hurts. Obviously, we want to win every game,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said outside a stone-cold-silent visiting clubhouse Friday night. “And we’re having a hard time.
“There’s no good walk to walk off the field when you’re the visiting team.
“It’s not a great feeling, and we’ve gotta go home with it.”
The home run spoiled another grand performance for Tigers starter Troy Melton, who allowed one run in seven innings, matching the longest outing of his career. He worked around doubles in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, including a leadoff double in the fifth.
But he left with the Tigers up, 2-1, and just like in his first start of the season, it was wasted when the opposition walked it off against Detroit’s bullpen.
BOX SCORE: White Sox 4, Tigers 3 (10)
Dillon Dingler hit a two-run home run for the Tigers, whose 2-1 lead held up through eight, after Will Vest worked around a leadoff single in the eighth. But with no Kenley Jansen, who’s on the injured list with a groin injury, inconsistent reliver Kyle Finnegan got the ball in the ninth and was tagged for the tying run.
In the ninth, Andrew Benintendi roped a one-out single, and went to third on Tristan Peters. Rikuu Nishida then bunted, and Finnegan made a fine play to get him at first, but Spencer Torkelson’s throw home was wild, as Rikuu scored the tying run. Torkelson made up for it with the next hitter, snagging Drew Romo’s hard grounder along the line behind the bag at first to get the final out of the ninth and keep the game tied.
The Tigers then took a 3-2 lead in the 10th after Zach McKinstry bunted over the ghost runner, Matt Vierling, and Zack Short drove him in with a sacrifice fly to right. It looked like the Tigers might actually pull it out, after all.
Anderson got two quick outs in the 10th inning, and got ahead of Vargas 0-1, before Vargas destroyed a 90-mph change-up, sending it some 391 feet to left — and sending the crowd of 30,019 home happy. Very happy. With fireworks, for good measure.
“You know, it’s difficult,” Dingler said. “But there’s nothing we can do about it. … We’ve gotta turn the page.”
The Tigers’ woeful offense managed just four hits, one after the fifth inning. Riley Greene had two singles.
The Tigers and White Sox continue their series Saturday, with first pitch at 2:40 Eastern.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers’ bullpen blows leads in walk-off loss against White Sox
Reporting by Tony Paul, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
