Tigers 6, White Sox 5 (10 innings): Another disappointing loss

And yet another frustrating loss for the White Sox, as they lose in extras, 6-5, to the Detroit Tigers. Although Chicago came back, they were not able to maintain the lead or have good plate approaches late to break the tie.

This was a long, dragging game that started interestingly for Dylan Cease.

Cease, indeed, had another shaky start. He got into trouble in the bottom of the second with two walks in the inning and a single, but was able to get out of it.

In fact, despite Cease’s loss of command, the White Sox struck first: Against Tigers ace Eduardo Rodríguez, Romy González cracked his first home run of the year in the top of the third, on a line drive that just kept going out in left field.

The lead didn’t last long, as Cease had a terrible bottom of the third inning, starting off with a double to Zach McKinstry and walk to Riley Greene. With two outs, he lost Nick Maton to another walk, and with two strikes Akil Baddoo hit one out for a grand slam. Cease’s pitch count was quickly bloated, so he only survived four innings with four hits, four runs, four walks, and eight strikeouts — a very weird stat line, for sure. His ERA now sits at 4.88.

Garrett Crochet pitched until the bottom of the sixth inning with two outs and a runner on second, where he was replaced by Keynan Middleton to get the last out.

The White Sox came back in the top of the seventh inning, as Will Vest took over on the mound for Rodríguez to start the inning. Clint Frazier showed us that taking walks is important, Gavin Sheets (pinch-hitting for Hanser Alberto), singled to right, and Tim Anderson singled to load the bases. With José Cisnero taking over for Vest, Eloy Jiménez welcomed himself back with a bloop double to score two, cutting the lead to 4-3.

With Anderson on third and Jiménez on second, Luis Robert Jr. scored Anderson from third on a ground ball, as TA made a great, heads-up baserunning play.

Then, Jiménez showed off the wheels to take the lead as he scored on an Andrew Vaughn sacrifice fly to take the lead, 5-4.

Middleton and Graveman had a perfect seventh and eighth innings, and Joe Kelly came to close it out in the ninth but ran into trouble with one out. Riley Greene tripled to Robert Jr., who had an ... interesting approach to the ball in center, and Javier Báez hit a slow chopper to shortstop that was bobbled by Anderson, allowing a run to score and tie the ballgame.

It is also important to note that Greene robbed a home run from Jake Burger in the top of the eighth inning, and that could have been the difference in the game if it went out. Instead, the game now headed to the 10th.

Alex Lange completely soared through the White Sox lineup, striking out two and getting a fly out with terrible plate discipline by hitters who had absolutely no approach at the plate. The Tigers did everything right in the bottom of the inning with Reynaldo López taking the mound, as they hit a fly out to center field to advance the ghost runner to third, and a sacrifice fly again to score the ghost runner and win the game.

Chicago finishes the week with an underwhelming 3-4 record, losing this series and not fully taking advantage of the stretch of games they just had. The schedule difficulty only intensifies from here on out, and it’s time to start seriously looking at the trade deadline and future of this team.

We will do this all again tomorrow against the Los Angeles Angels back at home. It will be Michael Kopech on the mound against Griffin Canning, at 7:10 p.m. CT. Everyone enjoy your Memorial Day weekend as much as you can after this performance, and we will see you tomorrow night.