It's a little tough to give up 10 runs to the post-Castellanos Tigers, but the pitching choices by Rick Renteria in the second game of a doubleheader make it a little more understandable. He used three pitchers:
- Hector Santiago, making a spot start after spending most of the year in Triple-A.
- Dylan Covey, before and after an hour-long rain delay.
- Jose Ruiz.
Santiago pitched the best of the three, as he was done in by soft contact constantly eluding Jon Jay, as well as an error by Ryan Goins that tacked an unearned run onto his tab. The White Sox couldn't summon the same kind of effort against Drew VerHagen, and so Santiago trailed 3-1 by the time he departed with two outs in the fifth. Covey came in and gave up both of his inherited runners with two more soft singles, and that determined the rest of the game.
The White Sox couldn't get their offense going in earnest until the late innings, and each time they scored, the Tigers found an answer. Leury García tripled and Ryan Goins singled him home with two outs in the seventh to make it 5-2, but Gordon Beckham singled and Jordy Mercer homered, both with two outs, to extend the Detroit lead to 7-2.
An inning later, the Sox took advantage of Trevor Rosenthal's season-long wildness by loading the bases with a single and two walks. Buck Farmer's wildness brought home one run (Adam Engel RBI HBP), and a García sac fly and another Goins RBI single made it 7-5.
Alas, Covey gave up two hits, and Ruiz came in and gave up two more, yielding all three runs back. After using Evan Marshall, Aaron Bummer and Alex Colomé in the opener, Rick Renteria didn't have a whole lot of ways to responsibly keep the nightcap within reach.
Bullet points:
*Engel saved Santiago a first-inning run by making a catch in the deepest part of Comerica Park for the final out. Statcast called it a five-star catch, as he covered 87 feet in 5.2 seconds.
*Jay had a rough night in right field. He was unsuccessful on two diving attempts, including a sinking Miguel Cabrera liner that got past him for the double. He also made a goofy throw home(?) and was screened by the ball boy down the right field line.
*There were a combined 30 hits in this game, with García, Goins and Eloy Jiménez contributing three-hit nights. The Sox were 5-for-11 with runners in scoring position, Detroit was 6-for-15.
Record: 50-62 | Box score | Highlights