Tigers 10, White Sox 1: Pitching pummeled yet again

Miguel Gonzalez got away with funneling pitches to the middle of the strike zone in the first inning because the Tigers kept hitting it to Yolmer Sanchez. The White Sox’ second baseman made a diving stop and throw to his right for the second out, then maxed out his athleticism with a leaping grab up the middle that brought Hawk Harrelson to life:

Then the Tigers started hitting it over Sanchez, and that was the ballgame. Nicholas Castellanos and Alex Presley went back-to-back in the second inning, and Alex Avila added a two-run blast to cap off a four-run fourth that effectively kicked the game out of reach before it was halfway over.

The one good thing you can say about Gonzalez is that he settled down to go six. He recorded his only strikeout in his final frame, and while avoided walking a batter, it’s mostly because he missed his spots in the wrong direction.

Another good OK thing is that a better pitching performance could have very well been wasted. A week after the White Sox beat up Jordan Zimmermann in Chicago, they couldn’t flip the switch against him today. The leadoff man reached base in each of the first three innings, and in four of Zimmemann’s six innings overall, but they ran out of ideas afterward. Double plays killed the first two innings, and the other threats were killed by ineffective at-bats. The swings just didn’t have a whole lot of conviction against Zimmermann’s slider, which, granted, looked better than it did the last time.

The Sox were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, which doesn’t count Todd Frazier’s RBI double, as it scored Avisail Garcia from first for the lone Sox offensive highlight.

Another attempt at a highlight was thwarted in the eighth. That’s when Brad Goldberg, up from Charlotte to replace the injured Michael Ynoa, made his major league debut. His career started with a ninth-pitch homer by Justin Upton, followed by a walk, single and a double for two more runs. He was able to record an out when Andrew Romine flied out to left, but since he’d thrown 35 pitches in one-third of an inning, Rick Renteria took the ball and gave it to Gregory Infante.

Infante allowed the inherited run to score on a single, and Goldberg’s first day in the majors closed with a 108.00 ERA. White Sox pitchers have given up 42 runs during the four-game losing streak, and their run differential is now even for the season after being +28 earlier this week.

Record: 24-30 | Box score | Highlights