Tigers 9, White Sox 1: Detroit slams back for series victory

Jose Quintana threw 39 pitches during the first inning without giving up a run.

Then he threw his 40th and gave up four of them.

Yoenis Cespedes teed off on a full-count fastball with the bases loaded for a grand slam that put the Tigers in control, and the White Sox hit into double plays every time they had the appearance of the start of a potential rally.

Quintana's start was iffy from the get-go. He fell into full counts with the first two hitters (groundout, single), but struck out Miguel Cabrera to provide a sense of hope. Alas, it was a false sense, as full counts to Victor Martinez (single), J.D. Martinez (walk) resulted in nothing good. And obviously, the full count to Cespedes was the worst.

The first inning foreshadowed the day's events for both teams. The Tigers stung Quintana for more runs -- one in the second, two in the third, and two more in the fifth -- knocking him out after 4⅓ exhausting innings.

On the White Sox' side, Adam Eaton started the afternoon with a walk ... then ran the Sox out of the inning when he drifted halfway off first base on Jose Abreu's shallowish flyball to right field. It required J.D. Martinez to make a running catch, but Martinez didn't have to think about leaving his feet to catch it. Regardless, Eaton was so off first that he couldn't even make it a play back at the bag.

The Sox went on to hit into three double plays in the first four innings, and added another one in the seventh.

However, they were able to avoid the shutout -- and give Shane Greene a non-zero ERA -- in the sixth, although they needed the Tigers' assistance. Melky Cabrera singled with two outs, and Abreu followed by slicing another liner to right. J.D. Martinez couldn't make the running catch this time, and the ball got past him to the wall for an RBI triple. Greene finished with seven strong innings, and that earned run is his first and only over his first 23 innings in a Detroit uniform.

The Tigers and the Sox finished the series with 14 runs apiece, for whatever that's worth.

Bullet points:

*Micah Johnson picked up his first career stolen base after a two-out single in the fifth inning.

*Matt Albers and Kyle Drabek spared the bullpen with two scoreless innings apiece.

*The Sox went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Record: 4-7 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights