The White Sox built an early six-run cushion, carried an 8-2 lead into the middle innings and still walked off the field with an 11-8 loss to Detroit, a reversal that tightened the American League Central race in Chicago’s final stretch.
Key takeaways
- Cleveland’s 5-3 win over Oakland moved the Guardians to 79-75, one game ahead of the 78-76 White Sox.
- Chicago owns the season-series tiebreaker over Cleveland, having won seven of the 13 meetings.
- Detroit erased a six-run deficit and posted five runs in the eighth inning against Sean Newcomb and Bryan Hudson.
- Miguel Vargas hit his 32nd homer, tying Munetaka Murakami for the White Sox lead.
- Right fielder Tristan Peters left after colliding with the wall while trying for Kevin McGonigle’s fifth-inning triple.
Early breaks did not hold
Chicago’s first inning had the look of a club catching every break. Detroit issued three walks, hit a batter and uncorked a wild pitch, then added two errors behind the pitching. All six White Sox runs in the inning were unearned.
Colson Montgomery delivered the biggest swing of the rally, drilling a bases-loaded double down the right-field line to clear the bags. Vargas followed with an RBI double, and Chicago had a 6-0 advantage before Detroit could settle into the game.
Vargas struck again in the third, launching a two-run homer to make it 8-2. His 32nd long ball pulled him level with Murakami for the club’s top total, but Detroit had begun to find a route back into the game.
McGonigle cut into the gap with a three-run triple off White Sox starter David Sandlin in the fifth. Peters was hurt on the same play when he crashed into the right-center-field fence in an attempt to make the catch. Braden Montgomery entered in his place.
Hagen Smith kept the Tigers from doing further damage in that inning. With McGonigle standing at third, Smith fanned Dillon Dingler, Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson in order.
Detroit finishes its climb in the eighth
Braden Montgomery gave Chicago another important defensive moment in the seventh. Javier Báez sent a sinking liner into right field off Newcomb, and Montgomery trapped it, came up quickly and threw out Greene at the plate to end the inning.
That play preserved the White Sox lead briefly. Detroit broke through against Newcomb in the eighth when Hao-Yu Lee hit the tying homer. After Hudson picked Gleyber Torres off first base, Dingler singled home the run that pushed the Tigers ahead. Greene then supplied the decisive breathing room with a two-run homer off Hudson.
The five-run eighth completed Detroit’s nine-run answer after Chicago’s early burst and left the four-game set even. For the White Sox, the loss was especially costly with Cleveland taking care of business at Progressive Field. Chicago remains within one game of the Guardians, with the head-to-head tiebreaker still in its pocket, but the margin for a late-season stumble has narrowed.
