Tigers 9, White Sox 5: Nicholas Castellanos leads comeback

Even with a 3-0 lead, the White Sox can’t time the Tigers this season.

The Sox fell to 1-9 against Detroit so far in 2018, and Nicholas Castellanos had a lot to do with it. He generated five RBIs with his first-ever five-hit game, and as you might imagine, he made the difference.

Castellanos gave the Tigers their two leads of the game. In the fifth inning, his third hit of the game — a double on a hanging Reynaldo Lopez changeup — gave the Tigers a 4-3 lead. After an Omar Narvaez homer tied it in the top of the sixth, Castellanos untied it with a two-run shot off Jeanmar Gomez.

From there, the Tigers piled on against a bad Juan Minaya to run their winning percentage against the Sox to .900.

This game hinted at a better outcome early, as the Sox had one of their more satisfying innings against Detroit starter Artie Lewicki in the third. They loaded the bases on him with a double, HBP and Yolmer Sanchez bunt single. Jose Abreu brought the first run home with a sac fly, but it didn’t stop there. Daniel Palka spanked a high fastball the other way to beat the shift for a second run, and Avisail Garcia scored Sanchez with a sac fly for a 3-0 lead.

Alas, Reynaldo Lopez let it slip away as his pitch execution disintegrated. A leadoff single came around to score with the help of a wild pitch in the third, Victor Martinez turned around a down-and-in fastball for an RBI double in the fourth, and then the lead disappeared in the fifth.

It started with a leadoff single by James McCann, who fouled back one grooved 0-2 fastball before singling on a second. Lopez then walked Victor Reyes on four pitches before hanging a 1-2 changeup to Jeimer Candelario, who singled to load the bases.

Lopez saw daylight after jamming Jose Iglesias into a soft one-hop double play, but after getting ahead on Castellanos 1-2 with a pair of changeups, he hung a third one for the go-ahead double.

The Sox only could muster a couple of solo shots, which wasn’t going to be enough. Narvaez tied the game when he won an eight-pitch battle with Drew VerHagen, lofting a fly into the first row of the season in right field for his fifth homer of the season.

In the eighth, after Tim Anderson flied out 415 feet away from home plate in center field, Adam Engel directed his drive a friendlier direction, crushing a solo shot over the wall in left to narrow Detroit’s lead to 6-5. Engel had another strong game, going 2-for-4 with the homer and a hustle double. The Sox had 11 hits overall, but all their extra-base hits came with nobody on.

Bullet points:

*Yoan Moncada had a strange game, going 1-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. Both K’s were backwards, although not on fastballs (changeup and inside-corner slider), and the single was a perfect bunt.

*Moncada was also caught stealing, as was Sanchez. McCann cut them both down, which didn’t help the run column.

*Palka had a good day for BABIP with three singles and two strikeouts.

*Luis Avilan threw a scoreless inning. Gomez and Minaya allowed five runs in the bullpen work around him.

Record: 42-76 | Box score

Author

  • Jim Margalus

    Writing about the White Sox for a 16th season, first here, then at South Side Sox, and now here again. Let’s talk curling.

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Shingos Cheeseburgers

We’ll look back on this game years from now and fondly remember literally anything else about this day since this game is so imminently forgettable. 

gibby32

eminently and imminently.

NorthSideSouthSider

Kopech in for Covey. Eloy in for Delmonico. Hamilton in for Vieria. Make it happen for Friday Rick

AirTrafficAJ

Psssst…wait till Saturday so I can see that.

asinwreck

It’s remarkable how bad the Orioles and Royals are that this Sox team cannot challenge them for the first draft pick. (Especially remarkable that neither of those teams went into 2018 with the idea of tearing down for a rebuild.)

lil jimmy

Lots of good talent at the top of this draft. Not deep though.