DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers intentionally walked Miguel Vargas, setting up a lefty-lefty matchup for reliever Drew Sommers against Chicago White Sox designated hitter Andrew Benintendi in the seventh inning Saturday at Comerica Park.
“(I was thinking) just get something up and put it in play,” Benintendi said. “(Sommers has a) funky arm slot. He’s throwing pretty hard with some sink. So literally, just try to stay inside of it and put it in play.”
The veteran delivered for the Sox with a single that deflected off the glove of diving shortstop Kevin McGonigle and trickled into left field.
Randal Grichuk, who began the inning with a pinch-hit double, scored from second on the hit to give the Sox the lead in a 4-3 victory in front of 33,119.
“That was awesome,” Sox manager Will Venable said of Benintendi’s at-bat. “We only had a couple bullets to fire there (off the bench), and (Benintendi) was going to get that at-bat against the lefty there. That was kind of at the end of (Sommers’) day, we thought (Benintendi) was the right guy there. And he obviously came through.”
The first-place Sox (64-58) strengthened their lead in the American League Central by winning their second straight in the series. The Tigers (60-63) fell 4 1/2 games behind in the standings.
“Every game in the division is massive,” Sox starter Anthony Kay said. “To be able to take this series and go for the sweep (Sunday) is huge.”
The Sox jumped ahead in the first on Braden Montgomery’s two-out RBI single. The Tigers answered with a run in the bottom of the first on an Eduardo Valencia RBI single.
Colson Montgomery, who was hitless in his previous 11 at-bats, put the Sox back ahead with a two-out, two-run double in the third.
“Obviously has been grinding and to come through like that, really after a great (nine-pitch) at-bat where he fouled off a bunch of pitches, and just wouldn’t go away and battled there,” Venable said. “So you love to see him come through there.”
Valencia homered in the bottom of the fourth, cutting the Sox lead to 3-2. The Tigers tied the score in the fifth on a Gleyber Torres RBI double against Kay, who allowed three runs on six hits with four strikeouts and one walk in 5 1/3 innings.
“Got into a groove after the first (inning),” Kay said of the outing. “Left a couple of changeups over the middle (in the fifth). Overall it was pretty good, attacking guys and getting ahead.”
The Sox reclaimed the lead for good in the seventh. Grichuk led off with the double. After Munetaka Murakami struck out, the Tigers decided to walk the right-handed-hitting Vargas. Benintendi came through with his second hit of the game, knocking in Grichuk to make it 4-3.
“Those guys are just good baseball players that just like being in those moments,” Venable said of Grichuk and Benintendi.
Jordan Hicks struck out three in 1 2/3 hitless relief innings for the win. Grant Taylor pitched the eighth, striking out one in the scoreless inning. And Bryan Hudson struck out one during a perfect ninth inning for his fifth save.
“(Hicks) was electric,” Venable said. “Obviously he’s in a really good spot, he’s been so good for us now for a while. You love that. And to get multiple innings from him was huge. Grant and (Hudson), running on fumes a little bit. But those are guys that want those moments and really want to come through for the guys.”
The Sox bounced back from losing two of three to the Cincinnati Reds by winning the first two of an important division matchup.
“These are probably going to, on paper, look like they are more meaningful than any game — the feeling in here is like it’s just another series win with a chance to win tomorrow,” Benintendi said. “Feels good.”
Roster moves
The Sox added catcher Jake Rogers to the 26-man roster and optioned catcher Edgar Quero to Triple-A Charlotte before Saturday’s game.
“We saw a much closer version of Edgar to what we had saw last year, and the better version of him, which was great and really meaningful,” Venable said before the game. “Defensive strides as well. So I think we really like where Edgar is at, and he’s continuing to progress.
“He’s still got some work to do, especially on the defensive side. But they’re the things that we challenged him with early on when he first got sent down, that he’s really responded to well and done a really nice job. So just got to keep going.”
Rogers, who went 0 for 4 on Saturday, played parts of six major-league seasons with the Tigers (2019, ’21, ’23-26) and received a nice ovation from the crowd before his first at-bat. He was claimed off waivers Friday from the Boston Red Sox after being designated for assignment Tuesday.
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