Clinching will have to wait.
Based on Tony La Russa's pitcher deployment and another lackluster showing by the offense, the White Sox weren't in any rush anyway.
A tie game caved in during a Detroit three-run seventh, which was Jace Fry's second inning of work. A pitcher who hasn't been on the roster for most of the year and won't factor into any postseason plans was pushed until he broke, even though he needed a tremendous defensive play from Tim Anderson and Yasmani Grandal to escape the sixth, and even though Aaron Bummer and Liam Hendriks backed him up to get through the seventh and eighth.
Meanwhile, the White Sox offense put together 12 hits and six walks, yet somehow only had 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position. They once again had a tough time stringing together at-bats, and it didn't help that Yoán Moncada was thrown out trying to stretch a leadoff double into a triple.
Like Monday, the White Sox showed promise with a two-run single by Luis Robert that gave them a lead in the third, but they had a hard time coming up with anything afterward. Dallas Keuchel worked around 11 hits and a walk to limit the Tigers to two runs over five innings, but because he was bled for those runs in the third and fourth innings after the 2-0 lead, it comes away as disappointing as it was tolerable.
Using Fry for the sixth inning made some sense, what with three games over the next two days. The defense got him in a mess -- Tim Anderson's throw from the hole on a Victor Reyes grounder went into the dugout for a single and an error, and then Leury García forgot to cover third after charging for a bunt, giving up another 90 feet. But then the Sox decided 270 feet was enough, as Anderson gloved a roller up the middle and fired home to Grandal, who blocked the plate with his foot to buy time to apply the tag. Angel Hernandez initially ruled Reyes safe, but the replay showed that his hand hit Grandal's foot and over the plate, and a replay reversed the call. Fry then induced a double play, and that was that.
But then Fry gave up consecutive singles to start the seventh, suggesting luck was being fresh-pressed. Fry got a double play that raised hopes of a second scoreless inning, but Niko Goodrum flipped a sinker to right field for the lead. Fry still remained in the game for one more batter, which ended with a wild pitch and a walk that put runners on first and second.
That's when Bummer came in, only to snap his 10-game walkless streak to load the bases, followed by a two-run single that gave Detroit the necessary insurance.
The Sox offense didn't quit. Adam Engel's two-out double kept the eighth inning alive, after which César Hernández walked to bring the tying run to the plate. Tim Anderson couldn't knot it up after Michael Fulmber, but his single made it a 5-3 game and put runners on the corners for Luis Robert. Alas, Robert's desire to turn around a first-pitch fastball overwhelmed the urge to lay off a fastball inches off the plate inside, and he grounded into a 5-4 fielder's choice to end the threat.
A similar sequence followed in the ninth. With two outs, Eloy Jiménez kept the inning alive with a single, the kind of hit that would've been useful over his first four at-bats, when he stranded six including a double play. Yoán Moncada then walked, bringing Leury García to the plate. García hit for himself and worked a 3-0 count, but when Fulmer challenged him, García had no answer. He took two fastballs, then swung through a third to end the game.
Bullet points:
*Engel went 1-for-4 with a strikeout in his return to action. Unfortunately, the strikeout was after García bunted Moncada to third after reaching second on a single and an error to lead off the sixth.
*Engel also racked up two outfield assists, both on redirected throws to the infield, including an atrocious send in the first inning that kept Detroit off the board.
*Yasmani Grandal drew three walks as the Tigers pitched around him to pitch on Jiménez.
*Hendriks pitched the Sox's lone 1-2-3 inning, striking out two in the eighth.
