By the time I was able to sit down and watch this game, the White Sox trailed 8-0. To the extent that such a score could surprise for a 2023 White Sox team whose bosses are already talking about the season in the past tense, it was only because Mike Clevinger started. He'd been the White Sox's best starter, even if every team just passed on the opportunity to pay him the remaining $5.33 million owed to him on waivers.
The Tigers shellacked Clevinger for eight runs on 12 hits over four innings, including a four-run first after Clevinger retired the first two batters, and that set the tone for the evening. The White Sox offense, conversely, totaled only four singles, and all four were erased by double plays.
The White Sox lineup didn't draw a walk off Reese Olson and two Tigers relievers, nor did they attract a plunking. The only reason the Sox managed to get a 28th batter to the plate was because Andre Lipcius committed an error on an Andrew Vaughn grounder with two outs in the bottom of the first, making a double play an impossibility.
Here are the bullet points for the rest of the game:
*Korey Lee, defended by Pedro Grifol before the game, was benched by Grifol for not leaving the batter's box on a pop-up that Spencer Torkelson caught in fair territory with one out in the third inning. Lee's reaction suggested he assumed the ball was 15 rows behind the first-base dugout. After the game, he said he couldn't locate it, and said it would never happen again.
*Visibility seemed to be an issue for both teams. Javier Báez also didn't run out of the box, looking up and away on a bouncer to first base. Andrew Benintendi and Oscar Colás both had iffy reads in the outfield, but that's not necessarily out of the ordinary.
*Clevinger didn't make any team regret letting him go unclaimed on the waiver wire, but his defense didn't help him out. He should've been able to get out of the first inning with one run allowed, but Andrew Benintendi broke the wrong way on Kerry Carpenter's opposite-field fly, allowing MIguel Cabrera to score all the way from second. That turned into a three-run mistake, because Lipcius notched his first MLB hit with his first MLB homer.
*Clevinger also gave up a pair of two-out runs in the second, but poor defense again contributed to his issues. Akil Baddoo was able to score from first because Lenyn Sosa held onto the ball after receiving Colás' throw from the outfield. Benintendi and Tim Anderson combined for a perfect relay on Spencer Torkelson's double off the wall that should've had Zach McKinstry out at the plate by plenty, but McKinstry's dive into home knocked the ball out of Lee's glove.
*Luis Patiño made his White Sox debut and fulfilled his promise of ugly long relief. He pitched four innings, allowing a pair of runs on five hits and three walks. One of those runs was unearned because he threw away a potential 1-4-3 double play ball in the sixth.
*Miguel Cabrera collected four hits for the first since 2021. His last hit was a bouncer up the middle that caromed off second base before Sosa could get to it.
*Patiño did make a behind-the-back snag on a comebacker, so there's that.
*Trayce Thompson relieved Colás in center field and threw out a runner at third base to stop the bleeding in the eighth inning.
*Colás played center because Robert was scratched from the lineup with a quad cramp.
