Detroit – Couldn’t catch them. Not in the standings, not in either of the first two games.
The Central Division-leading Chicago White Sox, for the second straight game, jumped on the Tigers early and didn’t relent, taking the second game of the series Saturday, 4-3, in front of another big crowd (33,119) at Comerica Park.
The loss drops the Tigers 4.5 games back.
The White Sox broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh with an RBI single by Andrew Benintendi on a ball that deflected off diving shortstop Kevin McGonigle’s glove.
The White Sox, after banging out 14 hits and four homers Friday night, flooded the bases again with 12 hits. They had a runner at second base and no outs in five of the first seven innings, including the seventh when right-handed pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk doubled off lefty Drew Sommers.
Sommers had retired five straight hitters. He struck out lefty Munetaka Murakami and then manager AJ Hinch issued an intentional walk to right-handed hitting Miguel Vargas who was five for eight in the series.
That set up the lefty-lefty matchup with Benintendi. Sommers got the ground ball he was looking for, just about six inches from where it might’ve been a double-play ball.
Credit Team Venezuela for keeping the Tigers in it early. Catcher Eduardo Valencia ripped a two-out, RBI single in the first inning and hit his sixth home run (in just 18 games) in the fourth.
He and Robert Fick are the only Tigers to hit six home runs in their first 18 games.
Countryman Gleyber Torres’ second of three hits in the game was an RBI double that tied the game 3-3 in the fifth inning.
Corey Julks, a former White Sox, doubled to start the fifth.
The three runs took Tigers’ starter Troy Melton off the hook. For just the first time in 14 starts he failed to finish at least five innings and he allowed more than two runs for just the second time.
But the White Sox had him under duress from the get-go. They put the leadoff hitter on second base in three of the five innings he started.
He gave up a two-out single to Brandon Montgomery and needed 28 pitches to get through the first inning. He escaped a two-on, no-out mess in the first hustling to track a bunt by former Tiger Jake Rogers and turning it into a fast 1-5-4 double-play.
And then came an event-filled third inning in which the White Sox took a 3-1 lead. They scored two runs with two outs after the Tigers first opted not to try for an inning-ending double-play and then mishandled the subsequent rundown and allowed the two runners to get into scoring position.
An explainer:
The White Sox had two on with one out. Brandon Montgomery hit a hard ground ball to first baseman Spencer Torkelson who fielded it level with the bag. Montgomery can run, but Torkelson could’ve tried to start a 3-6-3 double-play.
In a 1-1 game, he chose to throw home. He trapped Murakami in a rundown and the Tigers eventually got him out – the play going 3-2-5-3 with Torkelson making a heady play to cover the plate after Melton was slow to react.
But, in the time it took to complete the out, Benintendi and Montgomery ended up on third and second, respectively.
Colson Montgomery cashed in both with a double.
This will be updated…
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: White Sox win second straight over Tigers, lead Central by 4.5 games