Behold, a White Sox game where their low-leverage relievers could pitch in a victory.
Rain delayed the start of this game by nearly four hours, but the fans who hung around for the whole thing witnessed Luis Castillo following up Huascar Brazobán and Luis Castillo to close out a seven-run victory.
The White Sox still trail the Cleveland Guardians by a game, but by winning three of four, they put a dent in their greater goal of making the postseason in any form. Their magic number for the third wild card spot over the Astros is 4, and the Blue Jays 3.
A sustained effort from the Sox offense made it possible. The strong wind blowing in from all angles limited the power game, but the Sox applied steady traffic with hits and walks, and the wet turf occasionally played to their advantage as well.
They grabbed a quick 1-0 lead off Troy Melton when Chase Meidroth replaced Colson Montgomery's leadoff walk with a fielder's choice, stole second and scored on Braden Montgomery's double to right. On dry turf, it would've been a single. On wet turf, it stopped rolling, and Montgomery reached second.
Two innings later, the Sox posted the first of three crooked numbers. Colson Montgomery once again walked, advanced to second on a groundout, then took third when Brenton Doyle legged out an infield single to third. Sam Antonacci, who hasn't been fazed by Melton at the start of both their careers, roped a double to right. Brett Callahan wasn't playing that way, and he also had to ease up on his steps while approaching the ball to avoid slipping, and Doyle scored without a throw from the relay man for a 3-0 Sox lead.
The game turned in the Sox's favor for good in the fifth. Will Venable used a very conservative hook on Davis Martin, pulling him after a strikeout of John Peck completed his second turn through the order. Martin hadn't allowed a run and was only at 70 pitches, but he'd endured his share of traffic with three hits, two walks and a hit batter, so Venable chose Playoff Mode and went to Hagen Smith.
It nearly didn't work, as Smith loaded the bases with a six-pitch walk to Kevin McGonigle and a five-pitch one to Gleyber Torres. But if you don't love Smith at his consecutive walks, then you don't deserve him at his strands the bases loaded. He fell behind Hao-Yu Lee 2-0 before striking him out on six pitches, then got Riley Greene to ground out to Munetaka Murakami to keep the Tigers off the board.
Two batters into the bottom of the fifth, the White Sox made Detroit pay. Colson Montgomery once again reached base to start an inning with a single, and Chase Meidroth hammered them home with a no-doubt shot through the wind and off the back of the White Sox bullpen for a 5-0 lead.
That gave Venable a chance to ease off his bullpen, and the front end of his relief corps didn't let him down. Fresh off the IL, Huascar Brazobán pitched a scoreless inning, allowing just a harmless two-out double by Spencer Torkelson. Trevor Richards ended up spoiling the shutout in the eighth when Riley Greene doubled and came home on a sac fly two batters later, but while he flirted with a more costly inning by walking Torkelson with two outs, he got Callahan to pop out to strand two and keep it a 6-1 game.
And when the Sox tacked on two more with a bases-loaded walk by Murakami and a sac fly from Randal Grichik, that put the game in the Castillo Zone. The Sox have some larger questions about his role through the rest of this season and into next year, but for the time being, he pitched a 1-2-3 inning to send the waterlogged fans home happy.
Bullet points:
*Fans were also happy to see Tristan Peters pinch-run for Tommy Pham after a leadoff single in the eighth inning and finish the game in left field. It's his first action since leaving Friday's game with bruises after a collision with a fence pole.
*Antonacci made a fantastic diving catch in the fourth inning, although he made his own trouble by calling for it without realizing how much the wind was blowing it back toward the infield.
*Martin was back to getting swinging strikes, racking up 11 over just 70 pitches.
*The White Sox outhit the Tigers 10-6, and outwalked them 8-5. The Sox were also 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position, versus the Tigers' 1-for-7 performance.
*Miguel Vargas reached base four times on a single and three walks.
*The White Sox finished the season series against the Tigers 9-4.
