Tigers 4, White Sox 3: A rally, and then a bunt

After being kept in check over the course of five innings by erratic-but-talented lefty Tarik Skubal, A.J. Hinch essentially threw the White Sox a lifeline by bringing in Derek Holland, who only has handedness in common.

The first time the White Sox saw their old friend, all four who faced him reached and scored. Today brought more of the same, which was handy since the White Sox trailed 4-1 entering the sixth. Yasmani Grandal singled, Andrew Vaughn doubled, and even when Holland reached the lefty portion of the White Sox lineup, Jake Lamb doubled both runners home, and Zack Collins worked a walk, running Holland’s streak to eight White Sox faced without an out.

It was a little worrisome when Zack Collins tried bunting at points over his at-bat, although given that he’s a lefty, he just might have wanted to make himself useful during a bad matchup. But when Danny Mendick came to the plate and immediately bunted, the move had no such defenses going for it.

It didn’t work out as poorly as it could have, because that’s because we’ve seen the White Sox bunt into a triple play before. It was still on the red side of the scale, because Mendick pushed a bunt right toward charging first baseman Jonathan Schoop, who threw to third in time to get Lamb.

Here was Tony La Russa’s defense of the decision:

Hinch, having received a lifeline of his own, put it to use. He replaced Holland with Kyle Funkhouser, who induced a fielder’s choice and a groundout with his sinker to escape the jam. the White Sox trailed 4-3, and they’d trail 4-3 through the rest of the game, with the only moderately intriguing inning crashing to a halt on a disastrous hit-and-run attempt with Grandal and Yoán Moncada that involved neither hitting nor running.

In the end, the White Sox couldn’t bail out Lucas Giolito, who threw seven innings would’ve looked a lot better if he didn’t allow three homers. He allowed just seven hits and a hit batter while fanning nine, and he threw 76 of his 102 pitches for strikes, getting 22 whiffs along the way.

But he threw a few mistakes — or at least lesser pitches — and the Tigers didn’t miss. Eric Haase accounted for two of the homers and three of the runs. In the second, 1-2 changeup Zack Collins wanted away instead floated belt-high on the inner half, and Haase deposited it well into the left-field seats for a 2-1 lead.

Two innings later, Giolito got ahead with a first-pitch strike, then tried a slider away. The location wasn’t bad, but the breaking ball kinda ambled to its spot on the outside corner instead of displaying sharper tilt, and Haase reached out and lofted it into the first row in the same direction to make it a 3-1 game.

The same thing can be said about the third gopher ball that Giolito served up to Miguel Cabrera. It was located away, but Collins wanted it up, Giolito threw it down, and Cabrera dropped the bat head on it for a solo shot that provided the necessary margin. In another game, perhaps these pitches are doubles, singles, or a routine outs where the hitter spikes his bat in frustration, but they turned into runs in this one.

The White Sox had no such luck against Skubal, who struck out 11 over five innings. The Sox stung Skubal for a quick run in the first, as Tim Anderson doubled to left and scored on a Nick Madrigal single, but little did they know that they’d only have two other hits against Skubal over the next four. The only benefit is that they drove up his pitch count with all the K’s, setting up the bullpen situation they stopped seizing before the job was done.

Bullet points:

*José Abreu had a rough game, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, consistently getting beat on fastballs.

*Billy Hamilton visibly hurt his oblique during an at-bat, but stayed in for the remainder of it in his compromised state and struck out before departing the game. Mendick ended up playing center.

*Yermín Mercedes pinch-hit for Collins and finished the game behind the plate, as Grandal was DHing.

*Adam Eaton pinch-hit for Mendick in the ninth and struck out for the White Sox’s 16th of the game.

*Codi Heuer rebounded from his disastrous appearance on Friday with a scoreless inning, and José Ruiz threw a perfect ninth as well. I’m growing increasingly fascinated with all the situations that aren’t suitable for Matt Foster.

*The White Sox debuted their City Connect uniforms, and La Russa did his best work before the game.

Record: 35-23 | Box score | Statcast

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