This game had a little bit of everything: some White Sox offense, shaky defense, and questionable umpiring. While it was the latter two that dug the White Sox too deep a hole to dig out of, starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel didn't help much with shaky control in the fourth and fifth innings.
It all started off nicely, as the Sox scored two in the first inning. Anderson led off with a double to left center, then Gavin Sheets moved him to third with a groundout to first. Abreu singled to right to score Anderson and make it 1-0 Sox, and Andrew Vaughn singled to right to put runners at first and third. Leury Garcia then hit a fielder's choice to score Abreu, hustling up the line to avoid the double play and give the Sox a 2-0 lead, but Jake Burger struck out to end the inning.
The White Sox had another opportunity to add on to Tiger starter Tarik Skubal in the second, but it unfortunately went by the wayside. Billy Hamilton led off with a double to left center and a Zack Collins groundout moved him to third. Danny Mendick then walked on four straight balls to put runners at first and third with just one out. Tim Anderson struck out swinging and Gavin Sheets ground out to end the threat.
Meanwhile, Keuchel had a decent first three innings. In the first and third, Keuchel went 1-2-3 and in the second, back-to-back singles by Miguel Cabrera and Eric Haase were erased by a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Robbie Grossman, then Zack Short ground out 4-3. It was the fourth and fifth inning that spelled doom for Keuchel.
Keuchel first seemed to lose his control in the fourth. Jonathan Schoop walked to lead things off and after a Candelario flyout to right field, Miguel Cabrera also walked. Up came Ryan Raburn facsimile Eric Haase, who hit a sinking line drive to center. Billy Hamilton gambled that he could make a catching dive and lost. The ball rolled to the wall, and Haase was able to convert the play into an inside-the-park home run to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead, though Keuchel was able to retire the next two batters to keep the score there.
The Sox offense continued its resiliency in the fifth, beginning with a near mirror image of the first, as far as the combo of Anderson-Sheets-Abreu is concerned. Here, let me copy over the text from above: Anderson led off with a double to left [center], then Gavin Sheets moved him to third with a groundout to first. Abreu singled to right to score Anderson and...tie things at 3-3. After Andrew Vaughn struck out, Leury Garcia banged out a no-doubt home run to left and give the Sox a 5-3 lead, but Burger struck out to end the inning after Leury's dinger.
The fifth inning was where the wheels came off, and the Tigers batted around. Willi Castro and Jake Rogers hit back-to-back singles to put runners at first and third, then Rogers moved up to second on a wild pitch. Schoop singled to center to tie things up at 5, then Candelario singled to give the Tigers the lead at 6-5, and force Tony LaRussa to make the pitching change to Ryan Burr.
Entering with runners at first and third and nobody out, Burr nearly made it work. He was able to strike out Miguel Cabrera and Eric Haase back-to-back for two outs, then the questionable umpiring drama began. Facing Robbie Grossman on a 3-2 count, Burr located a wonderful fastball on the upper-outer half of the plate...and it was called a ball. Up next was Zack Short and same situation: 3-2 count, fastball in the upper part of the zone...called a ball. 7-5 Tigers. At this point Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz was ejected on --from what I could tell-- mildly talking at home plate ump Tom Hallion from the dugout. I'm pretty sure worse things have been said to umpires that haven't led to ejections. At any rate, the damage was done; Willi Castro grounded out to second to mercifully end the inning.
The Sox offense was done for the rest of the game at this point, and Detroit faced the minimum the rest of the way. The Tigers added on in a big way in the seventh. Jace Fry pitched a tidy 1-2-3 sixth, but Tony LaRussa left him in for the seventh and Detroit capitalized. Candelario led off with a walk, then the shoddy defense reared its ugly head. Miguel Cabrera hit a deep groundball to Tim Anderson at short. Rather than get the sure out at first, TA tried to turn two. His throw was nowhere near Danny Mendick and both runners reached safely. Up next was...Eric Haase who --everybody together, now!-- hit a home run to make it 10-5 Tigers. Fry then walked Grossman and Short back-to-back, though Matt Foster was able to clean up the mess, striking out Willi Castro and inducing a flyout to center off the bat of Jake Rogers.
Game Notes
- Eric Haase now has nine hits against the White Sox, five of which are home runs.
- TTOP has really cost Dallas Keuchel, and is something the White Sox should keep in mind. Third time through the order: .328/.400/.507. He threw 49 of 79 pitches for strikes and his line was: 5+ IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 K.
- Tarik Skubal's line: 5 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 6 K.
- Despite getting squeezed by the umpire, Ryan Burr looked great. So, too, did Jace Fry in the sixth inning. Pushing him for an extra inning was likely a mistake.
- Jonathan Schoop hit a home run off Matt Foster to make the final score of 11-5.
Record: 49-33. Box score
