A series win for the Tigers is a fine way to leave the Windy City.
The Tigers were back at it in Chicago, where the weather looked a lot nicer than it had the last two evenings, and everyone was talking about Chicago dogs. (For the record, Chicago dogs are the best, and I will hear no arguments to the contrary, but Daniela was wrong about Coney dogs, which are also excellent.) The Tigers were hoping to come away with a series win after being bested by the White Sox on Tuesday evening after a lengthy rain delay. Shane Smith was on the mound for the White Sox, while the Tigers were depending on Troy Melton. Melton had been both very good and very uneven in his previous outings, so the Tigers were really hoping for the former from the young pitcher.
With two outs in the top of the first, Kerry Carpenter singled. He’d be the only Tigers baserunner for the inning, and not to get too spoilery here, but it would be a good long while before anyone scores any runs in this game. In the home half Melton got three-up, three-down.
Once again, with two outs in the inning, Javier Baez singled. And once again a third out came along to leave him stranded. The Sox were once again 1-2-3 in the home half.
Jake Rogers took a leadoff walk to start the third, but three outs followed hot on his heels. So far the Tigers had stranded one runner in each inning. The White Sox had their own trend going, as they had all their batters go right back to the dugout without a single baserunner to be seen. Go Melton!
Wenceel Perez took a two-out walk in the top of the fourth, but once again, the Tigers couldn’t convert the runner. Again in the home half the White Sox faced Melton, and Melton won, getting them 1-2-3 once more.
The one baserunner trend continued in the fifth with a two-out walk to Colt Keith, but as with the previous innings, no runs scored. The White Sox finally got a baserunner in the home half with a leadoff double by Luis Robert Jr. No runs scored.
Martín Pérez replaced Smith in the sixth and the Tigers finally got something going. Kerry Carpenter singled, then Spencer Torkelson doubled, putting two runners in scoring position. Riley Greene walked. A sac fly by Wenceel Perez scored Carpenter, finally putting a run on the board. The Tigers would have to settle for just the one run, which wasn’t ideal given the situation, but at least the Tigers had the lead. Melton’s day was done, making way for Sawyer Gipson-Long. Melton’s final line for the game was 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K on a mere 56 pitches. HOT DAMN. Gipson-Long gave up a one-out single to Curtis Mead, until Kyle Teel hit into a double play to end the inning.
With one out in the seventh, Andy Ibanez came in to pinch-hit for Colt Keith and hit a single. But back to the same routine, two outs followed to leave him stranded. The Sox went down in order in the home half.
Perez got a two-out walk in the top of the eighth, but once again the Tigers failed to bring in their sole baserunner. Kyle Finnegan came out of the Tigers pen in the bottom of the eighth and gave up a walk to Andrew Benintendi. Michael A. Taylor came in to run for Benintendi, but was then eliminated in a force-out by Miguel Vargas. Two outs followed, however, to end the threat.
With one out in the top of the ninth, Steven Wilson came in out of the Sox pen to get the final two outs of the inning. It was then up to Will Vest to get the save for the Tigers and keep the lead intact. Blessedly, he did just that, getting three outs in a row. So despite how low-scoring this game was, it was efficiently played, though it certainly would have been nice to see more runs, let’s just hope they’re saving them to go to Minneapolis.
Category: General Sports
