The Chicago White Sox took the lead in the first inning of the third game against the Detroit Tigers.
In those three opening frames, the White Sox had one run scored by left-handed player Eduardo Rodriguez on Friday, two by right-handed player Casey Mice on Saturday and two runs by left-handed Tariq Scobal on Sunday.
Going into the final of the series on Sunday with two early runs, the White Sox hammered following the scull, adding two more runs in the third inning and one more in the fourth inning. Meanwhile, the Tigers have never been blamed for dropping a three-match series 10-1 at Comerica Park.
“You have to turn the page,” said third paceman Jaymer Candelario.
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The Tigers (1-2) took two runs and one run in two walks.
They had two throwing errors in the fourth inning, including a lazy throw by shortstop Javier Pace who pulled the first paceman Spencer Dorkelson out of the pocket. Pace’s mistake, signing a six – year, $ 140 million contract this season, led to the White Sox ‘fourth run.
Scopal allowed seven wins and five runs (four fours) with three strikeouts in four innings.
“There is no better way to describe the loss,” manager AJ Hinch said. “We’ll snatch this up and go to Boston (Monday – Wednesday at Comerica Park) .I’m not going to worry about it, except to say a few things openly. It’s been a little ugly, but it’s going to be 2-1 even uglier.”
There is nothing but the seventh heaven
The White Sox, who faced his MLB debut right-wing reliever Elvin Rodriguez in the seventh inning, broke the game with Eloy Jimenez’s RBI single and Andrew van Home run.
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Rodriguez tossed the fifth and sixth innings without a score, but the 24-year-old was crushed when he returned to work in his third inning to face Chicago’s Order’s heart a second time.
“We need an innings,” Hing said. “Elvin did a good job. The line was not going to do him justice. I thought he threw the ball well. He was relaxed and had a good crack. He had full control of the innings. A bad pitch van changed the entire line score. It was not his fault.”
He conceded four runs in three innings and two innings with two strikeouts in 20 innings.
Carlos Gillen, the LTTE’s bilingual media coordinator, explained, “Since this is my first time here, I tried to activate my pitch and I did,” Rodriguez said. “I performed better in that category. Both my cracker and slider were much better today.”
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V is for Victor
The Tigers took their own run in the second inning, with Miguel Cabrera taking an out walk and Victor Reyes – in the first blade appearance of the season – piercing the ninth-pitch fastball from white socks starter Michael Kobe.
Reyes’ two-out hit, with an exit speed of 109 mph, bounced off the right-center field and hit Cabrera. Dorkelson followed a four-pitch walk and stopped the runners in the corners, but Tucker Bornhard flew to center in the third out.
Apart from that innings, the Tigers were covered in white socks.
Kobe allowed two hits and one run in two innings with three strikeouts in four innings. Pulpen continued his dominance until the seventh with three perfect innings by Kyle Crick, Matt Foster and Kendall Graveman.
White Sox left-hander Danner Banks made his MLB debut and walked to Reyes to start the eighth inning, becoming the Tigers’ first pace runner after Torkelson’s two-out walk in the second inning.
Lead
Chicago shortstop Tim Anderson’s return, withdrew from the first two games due to suspension, had an immediate impact; All-Star started the game by scoring a double on the first-pitch crack of the scull.
Then, Louis Robert parked the runners in the corners. Jose Abrew (Groundout) and Jimenez (Sacrifice) recorded RBIs 2-0 lead in the first inning. The White Sox Tigers finished with an average exit speed of 93.8 mph against the No. 3 starter.
“I didn’t really find a good rhythm,” Scopal said. “I did not put the fastball where I wanted it. The replacement command was not good either. I did not like much time today.”
Second, Scubble struck out three batters: Josh Harrison (origin, 82.1 miles change), Reese McQuire (origin, 95.6 miles Singer) and Danny Mendick (swinging, 95.6 miles four-seamer).
But Anderson hit a lead-off single again in third place. Abrew doubled him, and then Harrison played solo at Abrew 4-1. In the fourth game, Mendic’s double was 5-1, but no run scored by Scuball was taken due to a bug error.
Anderson is 7-for-14 (.500) in his career with five doubles, one walk and three strikeouts against Scuba. He had a batting average of 389 in 17 games against the Tigers last season.
“He’s just as dangerous as any lead-off hitter in baseball,” Hingch said. “Controlling him on the plate or on the platforms is not easy. He has a reason to lead, and it’s one of the best teams in the American League. Withdrawing their spark-plug changes their order.”
For Scopal’s 79 pitches (50 strikes), he used 37 four-seam fastballs (47%), 22 changeups (28%), seven curveballs (9%), seven singers (9%) and six sliders (8%). He practically pushed his slider for the crack-change heavy mix.
“It was like a fun pitch application,” Hinch said. “Lots of changes, not many breaking balls. The ones he threw hit a little bit. He had to do the innings after the innings, not being able to bat against a good offense.”
Scubal recorded nine swings and a miss: four four seamers, three transitions, one curveball and one slider. He had 10 strikes, including four four-seamers and three shifts.
His cracking average is 93.6 mph.
“Looking back, I should have thrown (the slider) even more,” Scopal said. “Hindsight is 20/20. But if I make those changes, it’s going to be different because it’s a pitch I want to throw today.”
Contact Evan Petzold at Epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more about the Detroit Tigers and subscribe to our Tigers newsletter.