Trailing 3-0 after three after two and 4-1 through four, with Sean Burke laboring to a degree that hadn't been seen in several weeks, and with the primary bullpen options likely unavailable after being used in back-to-back games, this afternoon's tilt against the Tigers showed why it's tough for any team to sweep.
But with Detroit stretching out Drew Anderson with a vulnerable bullpen to follow, the White Sox offense couldn't count itself out if the pitching kept it close.
Indeed, the White Sox flexed their offensive depth, as five different guys contributed RBIs and six different White Sox scored runs while rallying to take all three games at Comerica Park. They extended their AL Central lead from 2½ games to 5½ games, while reducing their magic number by six to 34.
Munetaka Murakami struck the biggest blow. With the game tied at 4 in the seventh, he strode to the plate after a leadoff walk to Sam Antonacci and launched an elevated Tyler Holton single out to left field for a two-run shot that put the Sox in front. The White Sox bullpen made it hold up, as Sean Newcomb covered the final 2 ⅓ innings to serve as a one-man high-leverage unit.
But while Murakami tilted the scoreboard with one swing, it took a team effort to put him in such a position.
It started with Burke, who came out missing multiple ticks, and his whole arsenal suffered for the lack of power. He only cracked 96 once, and both his breaking balls lacked their usual bite, resulting in just four swinging strikes over the 32 swings and 72 pitches.
Rookie Brett Callahan rifled a rolling curveball into the right-field corner for a two-run triple in the second inning, then scored on a bouncing Max Clark single to give Detroit a 3-0 lead. And when the Sox got one of those runs back by cashing in a Tristan Peters leadoff double with a couple of productive outs, Burke's first pitch ended up over the left field wall via Colt Keith's opposite-field blast, despite Sam Antonacci's best effort, to give the run right back.
But Burke rallied to retire the next seven hitters, which at least got him into the fifth inning when his start could've very well been shorter, and that marked the start of the White Sox's display of resourcefulness.
When Peters reached with a leadoff walk to open the fifth, ninth-hitting Drew Romo followed by dropping the bat head on a down-and-in Anderson slider and lofting it over the right field wall to cut Detroit's lead to 4-3. The White Sox then converted a third leadoff runner in the sixth when Randal Grichuk doubled, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Colson Montgomery's broken-bat single through a drawn-in infield to tie the game at 4.
Hagen Smith, who stranded Burke's one-out walk to complete the fifth, posted another zero in the sixth, even though he had to absorb a 106.5 mph Ben Malgeri comebacker to his torso for a hard-earned lineout. That put him in line for his second victory in four appearances when Murakami struck in the top of the seventh.
Will Venable probably planned on Huascar Brazobán handling the seventh by himself, but when he continued to give up a series of scalded line drives that produced two doubles over the first three batters to make it a 6-5 game, he went to Newcomb for the final out of the seventh. Hao-Yu Lee summoned a scare with a hot shot to the right side, but Murakami hit the ground to stop it, then made an on-target flip to Newcomb, who outraced Lee to the bag to preserve the lead.
Miguel Vargas hammered out a high fastball in the top of the ninth to regain the run, the insurance proved unnecessary. Newcomb retired seven of the eight batters he faced, with a four-pitch walk to Malgeri the lone exception, and prevented the tying run from coming to the plate after Vargas added the cushion.
Bullet points:
*Continuing the theme of sharing the load, the White Sox's eight hits were dispersed among seven hitters, and six different Sox drew one walk apiece.
*The White Sox tied their 2026 high-water mark at seven games over .500.
*The White Sox swept the Tigers in Detroit for the first time since June 13-15, 2022. They'll need to win one of four games against Detroit when they meet in September to secure the season series and potential tiebreaker.
