The White Sox should've won this one by plenty, but winning it by one counts just the same in the standings.
The Sox offense squandered plenty of golden opportunities over the course of the afternoon, but while an afternoon of steady pressure amounted to just four runs, it was just enough for a nails White Sox bullpen to allow Andrew Benintendi's left-on-left go-ahead single in the seventh inning to stand as the decisive blow.
The White Sox will now leave Comerica Park in better shape than they started it regardless of what happens, but by taking a win against Detroit's hottest starter today and having their own hottest starter in Sean Burke lined up for Sunday, they shouldn't limit their aspirations to 2-for-3.
Jordan Hicks picked up the deserving relief win, coming in for Kay with one out and nobody on in the sixth and retiring all five batters he faced, tying the longest outing of his season.
In the middle of it, the White Sox's vaunted DH combo struck as individual parts. Lefty Will Sommers had calmed the game down for Detroit after Troy Melton labored in uncharacteristic fashion, and the Tigers offense stung Anthony Kay for a couple of runs to tie the game at 3. Will Venable chose the aggressive tack by pinch-hitting Randal Grichuk for Sam Antonacci, and Grichuk sizzled a double to the left-center gap to put the idea in motion.
Sommers struck out Munetaka Murakami and bypassed Miguel Vargas for an intentional walk to bring Andrew Benintendi to the plate, but instead of going for Brenton Doyle or Luisangel Acuña for a bat from the right side, Venable opted for the veteran, and Benintendi repaid the faith by shooting a single to the left side. It deflected off the glove of a diving Kevin McGonigle, slowing its path into left field, and that allowed Grichuk to score without a throw, even though he had to pause to let the ball past him.
That put Hicks in line for the win, and from there, Venable went to the same guys he used in the late innings on Friday. After pitching 1 ⅔ innings the night before, Grant Taylor opened the eighth by giving up a single to Gleyber Torres, but Colt Keith entered as a pinch hitter and hit a grounder right to Murakami at first, who stepped on the bag and started a three-throw rundown for a key double play. Taylor then struck out Dillon Dingler to end the eighth, which paved the way for Bryan Hudson to handle the ninth.
Just like the eighth, it opened in a dicey fashion when Hudson got ahead of McGonigle 0-2, threw three straight out of the zone, and then gave up hard contact to right. But it didn't have backspin on it, and Braden Montgomery was able to backtrack to the warning track for a loud first out. From there, Hudson aced Eduardo Valencia on the inside corner and got Spencer Torkelson to fly out on a first-pitch fastball to lock down his fifth save of the season, and secure the series victory.
Now, could it have been easier? Sure. The White Sox went 4-for-18 with runners in scoring position and had challenges closing the last mile. In his first plate appearance for the White Sox, Jake Rogers bunted into a 1-5-3 double play that doused a two-on, nobody-out threat against Melton in the second. In the fifth, Miguel Vargas made it to third with one out after a double and a grounder, but the Montgomerii struck out.
The Montgomerii also couldn't cash in Vargas after Benintendi's single for additional insurance in the seventh, and Doyle was cut down trying to steal second after Grichuk's leadoff single in the ninth.
But the denominator was large enough that even a below-average rate yielded enough big hits. They just had to work for them.
Before they'd faltered in opportunities with runners in scoring position, the Montgomerii came through with huge two-out hits in the clutch. Braden Montgomery came to the plate in the first with two on and two outs after Vargas and Benintendi failed to move the runners, and pulled a single through the right side for his second two-out first-inning RBI single in as many days.
Two innings later, Murakami greeted Melton with a double to the left-center gap, and two batters later moved to third on Benintendi's infield single. Up came Braden Montgomery, but his grounder to the right side found Spencer Torkelson, who came home with the throw. Murakami did his part by extending the rundown long enough to allow Benintendi and Montgomery to occupy second and third by the time he was tagged out, and that baserunning mattered when Colson Montgomery pulled a grounder just inside first base for a two-run double that put the Sox ahead 3-1.
While the Sox made Melton work, Anthony Kay didn't have it much easier, as he gave back a pair of leads provided by his offense. Valencia got him twice, following up a two-out walk to McGonigle with an RBI single that tied the game at 1 in the first, then hammering a changeup out to left for a solo shot that made it a 3-2 game in the fourth. The Tigers tied the game an inning later when Corey Julks and Torres started the fifth with doubles.
At least Kay was able to wriggle out of that jam with the help of Torres, who took way too long to recognize a liner to the left side was going to find Colson Montgomery's glove, and failed to get back to second before Montgomery's rather lengthy toss. That was the first of two times he got doubled up, and both made the final four innings considerably easier.
Despite the ups downs, Kay eneded up lasting 5⅓ innings, so while his start might not have been as effective as he desired, he did just enough.
Notes:
*Antonacci started the game by turning a routine single to center into a double with sheer hustle. Between that and Murakami's ability to extend the rundown, the White Sox were able to convert good baserunning into extra runs.
*Melton's line could've been even worse than it looked: 4.1 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. The White Sox raised his ERA from 1.46 to 1.71, and while they couldn't hang a second loss on his personal record, the Tigers dropped to 11-3 in the games he's started.
*Rogers finished the game 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, and the only White Sox player, be they starter or pinch hitter, who didn't get a hit.
