The News’ Tony Paul gives his quick takes on the Tigers’ 4-3, 10-inning loss to the White Sox on Friday:
One thing I loved
Troy Melton’s got a lot of poise for a fella who entered Friday night’s game with barely 50 innings of major-league service time. Maybe it’s the California Cool in him. He just doesn’t seem to get rattled.
He worked around doubles in three consecutive innings — a two-out double in the fourth, a leadoff double in the fifth, and a one-out double in the sixth — to keep the Tigers up, 2-1, entering the late innings. He went seven innings, tied for the longest outing of his major-league career. Impressive stuff.
I also like how he fields his position, with that same California calmness. Take a play in the second inning. With a runner on and one out, Andrew Benintendi hit a sharp grounder back to Melton. He collected himself and fired an absolute seed to second base, and while his bit of hesitation cost the Tigers a chance at a double play, he assured himself of at least the one out — and then got Rikuu Nishida to line out next to end the inning.
So often on that play, you see pitchers rush like crazy to get the throw to second for the forceout, and end up making an absolute mess of things. Not Melton.
One thing I didn’t
There’s a building buzz at Rate Field these days, one I haven’t felt in years. I attribute that to the White Sox actually have a winning record in late May, which I attribute largely to Japanese sensation Munetaka Murakami.
Murakami, who had 20 home runs and 41 RBIs in his first 56 games after signing a two-year, $34-million contract with the White Sox this winter, had to leave early in his 57th major-league game. He experienced hamstring tightness legging out what looked like a possible double play in the third inning and he was sent off for tests. There was no immediate word on the severity of the injury to Murakami, who immediately grabbed his right hamstring after crossing first base, or how long he might be out.
Speedester Luisangel Acuna pinch-ran for Murakami and actually scored on a two-out double by Miguel Vargas down the line in left field, to cut the Tigers lead to 2-1. Murakami almost certainly wouldn’t have scored on that.
Three stars
(Season total in parentheses)
Dillon Dingler (16)
Riley Greene (14)
Troy Melton
Player of the game
Miguel Vargas — He drove in the White Sox first run and their last runs, on a walk-off homer in the 10th.
Going the distance … and then some
The Tigers are now 0-5 in extra-inning games:
Tigers’ ABS tracker
Next Tigers game
Game 59: Tigers at White Sox, 2:10 Saturday, Detroit SportsNet, 97.1
ICYMI: Yesterday’s Tigers recap
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers, Game 58: One thing I loved, one thing I didn’t
Reporting by Tony Paul, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
