Detroit — If the Tigers learned one thing this weekend, it’s that these Chicago White Sox aren’t beaten until there are 27 outs recorded.
After getting tagged for nine runs on Friday night and squandering a lead in the process, and then coughing up a go-ahead run late in Saturday’s one-run affair, Detroit looked to be putting together a series-salvaging win on Sunday.
But with five unanswered runs across three innings, capped off by a two-run, go-ahead home run by Munetaka Murakami, the White Sox stormed back from a three-run deficit to win, 7-5, and complete a three-game sweep at Comerica Park.
“They’re a very good team and their record reflects that and where they’re at right now with a month and a half to go is well earned,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “And we’re going to get four more cracks at ’em.”
With three losses in a row to Chicago, the Tigers (60-64) — which entered the series with a chance to take over the White Sox for first place in the AL Central — are now at least one game out of the final wild-card spot and are 5½ games back in the division. Now, Detroit heads to Pittsburgh with hopes of righting the ship.
“You gotta have some some toughness to you when things like this happen,” Hinch said. “But I know that it sucks. It sucks for everybody. But it doesn’t help us beat Pittsburgh.”
Things started gloriously for the Tigers and left fielder Brett Callahan, who was making his MLB debut.
Callahan didn’t waste a moment to make the day count, roping a two-run triple into the right-field corner on the first pitch he saw, a knuckle-curve floating through the zone.
“It was just a curveball that kind of popped, and we had talked about, there were a lot of curveballs early in counts,” Callahan said. “So, I wasn’t specifically looking for a curveball, but it ended up being in a good spot. I wanted to put it in play, and I did.”
BOX SCORE: White Sox 7, Tigers 5
As he clambered up from third base, brushed himself off and went to collect a batting helmet that fell off sometime during his rounding of second base, his jubilant family bobbed with frenetic energy in the juiced-up Comerica Park crowd.
“I haven’t seen it yet. I’m a little worried,” Callahan said after his debut, a sly grin splashing across his face as he quipped about the moment and his family containing themselves. “But, yeah, I’m so happy that the Tigers went out their way to get them all here so that they could be a part of this. And I know my dad had some problems getting here, and I wasn’t sure if he was gonna make it, so I’m glad that he ended up being here.”
Callahan’s debut highlighted the afternoon for the Tigers, and he’d score one batter later when Max Clark singled, chopping the ball over the drawn-in infield.
The Tigers added on the next inning, as Colt Keith launched an opposite-field home run into the bullpen in left field. It was nearly robbed by left fielder Sam Antonacci, but the ball hit off the back of his glove as he leapt at the fence.
And that’s about when the good stopped for the Tigers, which managed some threatening situations with runners in scoring position, but couldn’t break through after Keith’s homer put them up, 4-1.
For a while it seemed the lead could hold up, as the White Sox, who hit the ball well all weekend, put up just one run on a handful of hits through four innings.
But in the fifth inning, Drew Anderson, making the start for the Tigers, gave up a walk to Tristan Peters followed up by a home run to catcher Drew Romo, making it a one-run lead.
Anderson pitched five innings, giving up three runs on four hits, striking out five batters and walking two, before he gave way to Tyler Holton in the sixth inning.
Holton gave up a leadoff double to pinch-hitting Randal Grichuk, who hammered a ball to center field over the head of Clark. He’d score two batters later on a single by Colson Montgomery, tying the game at 4.
“Getting guys over, whether it be a single, walk, whatever,” catcher Dillon Dingler said about what made the White Sox’s offense potent. “It’d be a single, next at-bat, next thing you know, it’s first and third with no outs. They did a good job. They jumped off. I feel like they jumped us a few times and we had to play on our heels a little bit. But that’s what good teams do. You try to counter that, and we’ve gotta do a better job next time.”
And though he gave up a few more base runners, Holton escaped the sixth without any more damage. The same could not be said for the seventh inning.
After a walk to Antonacci, Holton faced Murakami, the dangerous rookie who entered Sunday with 27 home runs and 55 RBIs on the season. He belted a two-run homer, punishing Holton for a sinker that drifted middle-middle, that gave the White Sox a 6-4 lead and left the crowd at Comerica deflated.
“They take advantage of their opportunities and they’re never out of it because of that two-run, three-run home run that they can get, or flip the game,” Hinch said of the White Sox. “And it comes top to bottom.”
The Tigers scratched a run back in the bottom of the frame, with doubles from Gleyber Torres and the scuffling Dingler.
But it was another blown lead, like Friday. And another close loss, like Saturday. And the common denominator is a White Sox team that showed why it’s sitting atop the AL Central this late in the season.
“I understand the magnitude of these games are big,” Hinch said. “I’ve been a part of pennant races where I’ve gotten swept in September and had the same thing and we went to the World Series. I just think it’s part of the schedule, and there’s emotions around it, and it’s missed opportunities, because you play these games where you can go one way or the other, and we went the wrong direction. And now our path is a little bit harder. But it’s still there.”
Andrew Graham is a freelance writer.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: ‘Missed opportunities’: Tigers swept as White Sox up division lead
Reporting by Andrew Graham, Special to The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Andrew Graham, Special to The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
