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White Sox 13, Tigers 0 — and it wasn’t even that close

The South Siders inflict a getaway smash-and-grab at Comerica Park

By Leigh Allan
/ new
José Abreu set up a nice little tent to keep cool, — and after four hits, probably should do so every game.

Yes, it was hot in Detroit: 105-degree heat index. Yes, the White Sox were even hotter, with season highs of 22 hits and 13 runs. And most of those were before the Tigers position players took to the mound.

Five of those hits were by the previously-slumping Yoán Moncada, who started things off with a three-run homer after Alex Faedo, whose usual control was just a rumor today, hit AJ Pollock with his first pitch and walked Josá Abreu.

Yoán was finally a happy camper (well, Jose was the actual camper, but we needed a cliché here).

After a quiet second inning, the White Sox peeled off four straight two-run innings before settling for a couple of one-run frames off of position players, who came in for the final third of the game. One of the two-run innings came from unlikely source: Seby Zavala.

Danny Mendick also had a dinger. None of the homers reached 400 feet, or came off of the bat faster than 101 mph, but in Comerica on a scorching day they didn’t need to.

Every Sox starter had a hit, with Moncada’s five (OK, alright, two were off of 50-mph position player-lobs), Abreu at four (OK, alright, ditto) and Josh Harrison and Andrew Vaughn at three each topping the output. Leury García will no doubt be in for a wee bit of ribbing — he came in to replace Luis Robert and struck out against shortstop Harold Castro and hit into a double play against catcher Tyler Barnhart.

(In case you’re an apple’s-distance-from-the-tree believer, in-between Castro and Barnhart, infielder Kody Clemens gave up three hits and a run in his inning, though he did manage to once or twice hit the radar at 49, darn near half dad Roger’s norm.)

On the pitching side, Vince Velasquez, just off the IL, went 2 2⁄3 innings and was replaced by Davis Martin, who gave up just three singles while pitching through the eighth and getting his first major-league win. José Ruiz tossed a clean ninth, but didn’t get a save, what with the 13-run lead he was protecting.

Sure is fun playing the Tigers and outscoring them 27-6 over three games. Fun, also, to get back on the cusp of .500. Too bad the White Sox now have to go back to facing major league teams, beginning in Houston on Friday.

Should be a happy flight south, though.

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