The Detroit Tigers started another crucial series with a division rival, as the AL Central-leading (for now) Chicago White Sox came to town for the first of a three-gamer. The White Sox showed why they’re leading the league in runs scored as they pummelled the ball relentlessly on their way to a 9-5 win.
Jackson Jobe made his second start of the year for the Tigers, after spending time on the Injured List earlier this year recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery. He looked great in his first start, in San Francisco: five innings, one hit, one walk and four strikeouts. Having him in the rotation for the rest of the year, contributing the quality innings of which we know he’s capable, sure would help the Tigers chase down a playoff spot.
The White Sox decided to put on a little Pitching Chaos themselves and have Sean Newcomb open; he’s done this a few times over the past few years, so this wasn’t going to be his first rodeo. Besides, for both of 2017 and 2018 he was a full-time member of the Atlanta rotation, acquitting himself decently well before moving to a relief role in a few stops around the major leagues between then and now. Staying healthy has been Newcomb’s main problem over the years.
Jobe started the game in a pretty unusual way: by hitting two batters on the back foot with consecutive off-speed pitches. That’s not what you want to do against the American League’s top run-producing lineup, obviously — and with two outs a single to left put Chicago up 1-0 with runners on the corners. But Jobe got Colson Montgomery to swing and foul-tip a 98-mph fastball into Dillon Dingler’s mitt and the damage was thusly contained. He threw 25 pitches in the first inning; given that he’s still building up to full strength that meant his outing was probably going to be on the short side anyway, but in the second he only needed nine pitches to get those three outs.
Newcomb got the first out of the bottom of the second, and Old Friend™ José Urquidy came in for him. Remember Urquidy, very briefly, at the end of last season? Well, former teammate or not, Spencer Torkelson greeted him with a single, and after a strikeout Ben Malgeri connected on a low changeup for a two-run home run, putting the Tigers ahead 2-1.
The Tigers added to that lead in the bottom of the third: with two out, Kevin McGonigle singled and Eduardo Valencia followed with yet another extra-base hit, a double that scored McGonigle and put the home team up 3-1.
Alas, the White Sox then did what they do better than anyone else in the league: score a bunch of runs. A single to lead off the fourth was followed by a Tristan Peters two-run home run to even the game at 3-3. They took the lead 4-3 on a Munetaka Murakami solo home run two outs later, and Miguel Vargas followed with a double. A walk ensued, then a Braden Montgomery triple scored another pair of runs to make it 6-3 and end Jobe’s day. Jacob Waugespack was brought in to douse the flames and thankfully he did, coaxing a fly ball out of the other Montgomery for the final out.
Jobe’s final line was not pretty: 3 2/3 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 4 K and a pair of home runs. On the radio broadcast, Andy Dirks said it looked like Chicago’s hitters knew what was coming, and I can’t help but wonder if he was tipping his pitches a touch. Also, remember, he’s still coming back from Tommy John surgery, and history has shown it takes a while to really regain your sharpness.
After that, things settled down for a while, and Enmanuel De Jesus took over in the top of the sixth. With one out Murakami walked and Vargas blasted a long home run to left for an 8-3 lead, though.
Things got quiet again until the bottom of the seventh when Malgeri struck again for another home run to lead off the inning, narrowing the lead to 8-4. Max Clark followed with a sharp line drive to right-centre; Braden Montgomery dove for it and missed, and Clark motored around the bases for a triple.
A Gleyber Torres groundout scored Clark to make it 8-5. Huascar Brazobán, who’d taken over for Urquidy to start the sixth, departed in favour of Grant Taylor; it’s been a rough week with a heavy load for the White Sox, so burning as many of their good relievers as possible may just help the Tigers the rest of the weekend, if nothing else.
De Jesus got the first out of the top of the eighth and Ty Madden stepped in to promptly give up another Vargas home run for a 9-5 score.
In the bottom of the inning, Colt Keith hit a double the opposite way with one out to show the Tigers weren’t quite finished yet. He advanced to third on a Torkelson groundout, but a Zach McKinstry groundout stranded him there. They didn’t do much in the ninth either against lefty Bryan Hudson, and that was the game.
Final score: White Sox 9, Tigers 5
Notes and Controversies
- As you might have seen, Thursday’s combined shutout victory against Cleveland was pretty unique, as it was the first time since 2014 that a team had shut out another without striking anybody out. Who was that previous team? You might know them as the Detroit Tigers; Rick Porcello went the distance, shutting out Oakland while throwing a Maddux.
- Keider Montero started Thursday’s whiffless masterpiece. His strikeouts-per-nine-innings has actually gone down this year, from 7.1 last year to 6.0 this year so far.
- You know what else has gone down by about one per nine innings this year for Montero, too? Walks. Last year, 3.1 (oooh); this year, 2.0 (aaah).
- Since pitches have been routinely counted in 1988, Greg Maddux has the most Madduxes, as you might imagine. Know who has the second-most? I sure didn’t, and I never in a million years would have guessed Zane Smith, but hey, there you are.
- On this day in 1901, Gustave Whitehead claimed to have flown an airplane in Connecticut. Did he beat the Wright Brothers by over two years? Not too many people seem to believe it. No photographic evidence of his machines being off the ground exist, nor did he keep detailed documentation about it.