Tigers 10, White Sox 8: Detroit barrage too much

The game started well enough for the White Sox. While Peavy had trouble with his command in the first inning, Alexei Ramirez and Gene Lamont helped to bail him out. A leadoff walk was erased by a generous double play turned by Peavy and Ramirez. After a Miguel Cabrera single, Prince Fielder doubled down the left field line. For some reason, Lamont decided to send Cabrera even though the relay had almost reached Ramirez by the time Cabrera made his turn home. The Cuban's arm is not one to test and he threw out Cabrera easily.

In the bottom half of the inning, Lamont was shown what good third base coaching looked like. With the bases loaded, A.J. Pierzynski hit a shallow single to left off of a shaky Max Scherzer. Alejandro De Aza scored easily and, after Don Kelly bobbled the ball, Joe McEwing sent Gordon Beckham. Kelly then bobbled the ball again and Beckham scored without a throw.

Peavy settled in after the first inning but Scherzer did not. The Tigers righty labored - and I mean excruciatingly, slowly labored - through four plus innings. Scherzer didn't have his good mechanics and he responded like a Yankees or Red Sox pitcher and decided to slow the pace to a near halt. It didn't help.

The White Sox added a Paul Konerko solo home run and a Dayan Viciedo RBI single in the 3rd. With his pitch count approaching 100, Scherzer couldn't retire either of the batters he faced in the fifth. Collin Balester relieved Scherzer. His first pitch to Pierzynksi was a wild pitch that advanced Adam Dunn to second and Konerko to third. His second pitch was a single to center that scored both runners. With Peavy cruising and a 6-0 lead, White Sox fans felt pretty good. And then the wheels fell off.

Andy Dirks led off the top of the sixth with a single. Cabrera then sent a ball into the left field stands that almost reached the concourse. Fielder blooped a ball near the line in short left field and decided to go for two. Viciedo would have had him at second but couldn't find the grip on the ball. Peavy retired Avila but then hit Brian Boesch with a pitch. Ryan Raburn followed by taking a hanging slider into the outfield seats. Just like that it was a 6-5 game. And the Tigers weren't finished.

Peavy was pulled after walking Jhonny Peralta. Will Ohman paradoxically came in. Presumably Robin Ventura was looking for the lefty-lefty matchup with Kelly, which is sort of pointless considering Kelly can't hit anyone. Jim Leyland countered with the obvious move and pinch hit with Delmon Young. Ohman responded by hitting Young with a pitch. Then the right-handed Austin Jackson hit another 3-run home run.

The Tigers piled on a couple more runs in the seventh to make it 10-6 and it was good that they did. After Jose Valverde retired the first two batters in the ninth, the White Sox loaded the bases via a Konerko walk, a Pierzynski double and a Rios walk. During Rios' plate appearance, Octavio Dotel came in to relieve an injured Valverde. Ramirez then doubled home Konerko and Pierzynski but Dotel ended the threat when Viciedo hit a ball deep to the right field fence. But not deep enough.

Bullet points:

• Pierzynski was 5-5 with a double and 3 RBI.
• Konerko was 3-4 with a home run and a walk.
• The White Sox failed to contain Cabrera and Fielder, which is a recipe for giving up 10 runs. Cabrera went 2-5 with a home run and Fielder went 3-4 with two doubles, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
• The game lasted 3:42.

Record: 17-20 | Box score | Play-by-play