When the White Sox's All-Stars all play like All-Stars at the same time, even the hottest team in the American League struggles to keep pace.
Tristan Peters hit a game-tying two-run shot and Munetaka Murakami contributed a 3-0 go-ahead solo blast during a five-run fourth inning, and a pair of Miguel Vargas homers kept the Tigers at arm's length afterward. All three reps at Citizens Bank Park in July -- along with a big game from Braden Montgomery -- helped flip an unfavorable pitching matchup to take the opener of a key three-game series at Comerica Park.
The White Sox roughed up Jackson Jobe and three Detroit relievers for 14 hits, with seven going for extra bases, and four leaving the yard. They packed a lot of that punch in the fourth inning, when they combined to hit for the cycle.
Chase Meidroth led off with a single, and Peters followed by ripping a middle-middle 94 mph fastball over the right-field wall to tie the game at 3. Jobe seemed to regain control by retiring Drew Romo and Sam Antonacci, but he fell behind 3-0 to Murakami, and when he tried to get back into the count with another grooved fastball, Murakami hit a 41-degree moonshot that carried well over the right field wall to put the Sox ahead 4-3.
But they weren't done. Vargas kept the inning alive with a double, Andrew Benintendi coaxed a six-pitch walk, and Braden Montgomery capitalized on his own favorable count, punishing a 2-0 fastball and banging it off the top of the distant right-center wall for a two-run triple that made it a 6-3 game.
The White Sox spent the rest of the game ahead, thanks to a resilient José Urquidy and Will Venable not taking anything for granted.
The White Sox initially billed it as a bullpen game, but once Sean Newcomb departed after just four outs and 25 pitches for Urquidy, the opener/bulk boy arrangement revealed itself.
And initially, Venable might've had regrets. Urquidy opened his evening by giving up a single to Spencer Torkelson, and two batters later, Ben Malgeri waited back on a changeup and golfed it out to left for a 2-1 Tigers lead.
An inning later, Kevin McGonigle kept Detroit's half alive with a two-out single, then scored all the way from first after Eduardo Valencia dropped a double down the left-field line on another righty-righty changeup to make it a 3-1 game.
But Urquidy stuck to the plan -- namely a lot of changeups regardless of handedness -- and whether it was veteran guile, luck with contact or a balance of the two, he fulfilled the sort of obligations usually reserved for Erick Fedde and got the game through five.
Venable lifted Newcomb and Urquidy earlier than he could have, and he maintained a theme of proactivity the rest of the evening. Huascar Brazobán took over for the sixth, and while he survived a lot of loud line drives for a seven-pitch inning, he gave up another Malgeri homer to open the seventh, and then Max Clark's knuckling line drive tailed away from a diving Braden Montgomery for a triple that turned into another Detroit run on a subsequent groundout by Gleyber Torres, which narrowed the gap to 8-5.
Even though the bases were cleared, Venable took no chances, going to Grant Taylor. Taylor handled the final two outs of the seventh and worked around a one-out double in the eighth, so he might not be available for Saturday's game. In hindsight -- and with the benefit of a pair of Vargas homers in the sixth and eighth innings -- such aggressive usage of his best reliever might've looked a tad unnecessary. With tonight's victory ensuring the White Sox will leave Detroit with the division lead no matter what happens the next two days, Venable opted for the bird in the hand.
Bullet points:
*Vargas finished 4-for-5 with two homers. His second one cost him a chance at the cycle.
*Braden Montgomery's contributions ran the risk of being overshadowed in multiple senses. He hit a big two-out single to put the Sox on the board in the first after the game opened with Sam Antonacci and Murakami both getting hit on the toe, and while his triple didn't clear the fence, at 418 feet, it was the White Sox's longest batted ball of the game.
*Bryan Hudson pitched around a two-out single for a drama-free ninth, a nice bounce-back outing after an ugly eighth inning against Cincinnati on Tuesday.
*Urquidy picked up the win in his White Sox debut: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 33 of 52 pitches for strikes.
*The White Sox lead the season series 4-3, and this was the first road victory for either team.
