Tigers 2, White Sox 1 (6½ innings): Even the weather is against them

There’s already a figurative rain cloud following the White Sox from city to city. There was a literal one tonight, and it was just as poorly timed as everything else this year.

A storm forced this one to be called in the middle of the seventh. James Shields only had a one-run cushion to work with as the rain started closing in, but he ended up surrendering solo shots to Ian Kinsler and Miguel Cabrera in the fifth, which ended up deciding the game.

It’s the latest of hard luck for Shields. On a 90-degree evening with a nice breeze blowing out, he fared well by holding the Tigers to two runs over six innings. Alas, he dropped to 4-12 because the White Sox could only convert quite a bit of baserunning traffic against Mike Pelfrey into one run.

Adam Eaton went 3-for-3 out of the leadoff spot, and he scored the White Sox’ lone run in the third when Tim Anderson followed a leadoff double with a single through the right side. Anderson was erased by a Melky Cabrera double play, and that was more in line with the rest of the evening. The Sox grounded into two double plays, and more substantial rallies in the second and sixth innings also went nowhere.

In the former, the first two Sox reached, only to go no further after two popouts and a lineout. In the latter, the Sox finally chased Pelfrey after a single and walk with one out. In came Shane Greene, who erased Todd Frazier on three pitches, but plunked Tyler Saladino to load the bases. No worries, as J.B. Shuck grounded out to first. That bit of work gave Greene the save in this shortened game.

Bullet points:

*Matt Albers pitched a scoreless seventh. The first out was a strikeout, which was his first since June 13 (27 batters ago).

*Brett Lawrie left the game suddenly, setting up a potential #HugWatch scenario. But too much time passed for it to be a trade rumor, and it ended up being a hamstring issue.

*The Sox have lost seven of eight, and are back to three games under .500. They might be mired in worse than mediocrity.

Record: 46-49 | Box score | Highlights