CHICAGO – The Detroit Tigers lost, 4-3, against the Chicago White Sox on a walk-off home run in the 10th inning Friday, May 29, in the first of three games in the series between the American League Central foes.
It’s their 19th loss in 23 game, keeping the 22-36 Tigers in last place in the American League, 11½ games back of the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central and 8½ games back of the White Sox, who lost 121 games in 2024.
The Tigers, meanwhile, are on pace for 101 losses this season – one less loss than the White Sox last season.
Why are White Sox suddenly winning?
Friday’s win gave the White Sox a 30-27 record, making them one of four teams above .500 in the American League. (The other three: Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians.)
It’s a massive improvement from their 60-102 record in 2025 and their 41-121 record in 2024. Both years, the White Sox finished last in the AL.
In 2026, the White Sox are on pace for 85 wins.
“They’ve played well,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “You can see some of the new guys providing energy, performance. I remember a couple of years ago, when we turned the corner, how much of an energy boost that was for a franchise. I see it with these guys.”
Second-year manager Will Venable deserves credit for the success, for his work on the White Sox’s prime characteristic: Togetherness.
“They’ve won games in different ways,” Hinch said. “They use their whole roster. They create a little bit of action. They know their strengths. They know their weaknesses. And they’re playing a pretty good brand of baseball. They’ve hit the ball out of the ballpark quite a bit, which is not that uncommon in this park.”
The biggest boost for the White Sox has been first baseman Munetaka Murakami, who became the first rookie in MLB history to hit 20 home runs before June.
The 26-year-old entered Friday’s series opener leading the AL in home runs (20), RBIs (49) and strikeouts (79), while hitting .242 with 44 walks and a .947 OPS in 56 games. He left Friday’s game in the third inning with a right hamstring strain and will be placed on the 10-day injured list.
“It’s going to be a couple of weeks,” Venable told reporters.
Murakami spent the past eight seasons as a superstar in Japan, then signed a two-year, $34 million contract with the White Sox in December.
He is the AL Rookie of the Year favorite.
Behind him? That would be Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle, who entered Friday hitting .291 with three home runs, 33 walks and 31 strikeouts in 55 games, posting an .817 OPS.
“I can see how they’ve turned the corner a little bit in learning how to win games, and they’ve won them,” Hinch said. “That’s why they’re above .500 – and one of the few teams in the American League that can say that right now at this point in the season. That deserves a hat tip.”
A.J. Hinch, Dillon Dingler react to another walk-off loss
The Tigers lost Friday in walk-off fashion for the seventh time in 30 road games.
This time, it was 26-year-old Miguel Vargas, who homered off an up-in-the-zone changeup from right-handed reliever Drew Anderson with one strike and two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning.
“It’s a brutal feeling because we were in position to win it a couple of times by one [run],” Hinch said. “It’s a thin margin, obviously. There’s no good way to walk off the field when you lose. It’s a miserable feeling because it’s a game that we had within our grasp with one out away – twice.”
Hinch was asked if he feels numb to walk-off losses after so many of them.
“It’s not numb because it still hurts,” Hinch said.
“Obviously, we want to win every game,” Hinch continued. “We want to win as many games as we can, and we’re having a hard time. We have to go home with it and come back tomorrow ready to play.”
Catcher Dillon Dingler experienced all of the emotions in Friday’s game, hitting a two-run home run in the third inning, failing to save a wild throw from first baseman Spencer Torkelson that resulted in the tying run in the ninth inning and watching from behind the plate as Vargas ended the game in the 10th inning.
“It’s difficult, but we can’t dwell on it,” Dingler said. “We can look back and see what we did wrong and correct things we could do better, but we got to look forward to tomorrow. We got to turn the page.”
Teams targeting Kevin McGonigle, Riley Greene
The White Sox deployed left-handed reliever Brandon Eisert as an opener in Friday’s game – the fourth time in May an opponent has used a lefty opener against the Tigers, following the Boston Red Sox (on May 5) with Jovani Morán, the Toronto Blue Jays (on May 16) with Mason Fluharty and the Baltimore Orioles (on May 22) with Keegan Akin. The result: Three Tigers losses, with an average of 2.3 runs per game.
The plan is simple: Work around McGonigle and Riley Greene.
McGonigle hit leadoff and Greene hit cleanup Friday, creating an interesting counter challenge for the White Sox. If the White Sox retired the Tigers in order in the first inning, Eisert would need to return for the second inning to face Greene, forcing an extended outing beyond the typical one inning from an opener .
The alternative for the Tigers would be moving Greene into the Nos. 3 or 5 spots. The former could gain an extra plate appearance later in the game, but it would guarantee Eisert facing both McGonigle and Greene in the first inning; the latter might have brought a righty in to open the second inning, but could take a plate appearance from Greene in the final inning of the game.
“I don’t really move them,” Hinch said of McGonigle, who flew out in the first inning, and Greene, who flew out in the second inning, both against Eisert. “They’re hitting somewhere in the top four or five.”
The White Sox also entered Friday’s game with four left-handed relievers in their bullpen after calling up lefty Tyler Gilbert as an injury replacement. The four lefties created multiple opportunities for favorable matchups against McGonigle and Greene.
Hinch wasn’t surprised.
“I think these guys added a lefty to balance out their bullpen,” Hinch said. “I think that’s directly about Kevin and Riley. If Carp [Kerry Carpenter, an injured left-handed hitter] were here, he would be part of that.”
Both McGonigle and Greene are capable of success against left-handers, but they’ve been more successful against right-handers.
Entering Friday, McGonigle was hitting .276 with a .744 OPS against lefties (compared to .297 and .845 vs. righties); Greene was hitting .250 with a .703 OPS against lefties (compared to .275 and .823 vs. righties).
“They know Riley’s going to be in the lineup and Kevin’s going to be in the lineup,” Hinch said. “They’re taking their shot at getting a matchup or two in the first inning, just as they would in the sixth or seventh or eighth.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers takeaways: A.J. Hinch impressed by White Sox success
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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