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Series Overview – at Detroit (April 4–6)
Series Overview – at Detroit (April 4–6)
The White Sox dropped two of three at Comerica Park but salvaged the finale to leave town at 3–6 on the year. The theme of the weekend was late drama: Chicago mounted big ninth-inning rallies in all three games, but bullpen issues and extra-inning rules burned them twice before a much-needed win on Sunday.
On April 7th, the club followed the trip by releasing LF Austin Slater, trimming a veteran from the outfield mix.
Game 1 – Tigers 6, White Sox 4 (10 inn.) – April 4
Reese Olson dominated early and the Tigers carried a 4–0 lead into the ninth, but the Sox finally woke up.
9th-inning rally: Down four, Chicago strung together three hits and a walk against Jason Foley and Will Vest. Kyle Teel’s sac fly and Andre Lipcius’s RBI double helped push four runs across to tie it 4–4.
Walk-off blow: Extra innings didn’t last long. With the automatic runner on second, Gleyber Torres crushed a two-run walk-off homer off Sean Burke in the bottom of the 10th.
Pitching: Mike Vasil battled through 4.2 innings (2 R, 6 K). The bullpen kept things close until Burke’s mistake pitch ended it.
The loss dropped Chicago to 2–5, wasting what was almost a statement comeback.
Game 2 – Tigers 5, White Sox 4 (10 inn.) – April 5
Saturday was even more painful: another late charge, another extra-inning loss, and this time a long rain delay mixed in.
Rain & short start: Martín Pérez didn’t escape the third and a 54-minute rain delay ended his day early. The bullpen (Wilson, Clevinger, Murfee, Burke, Eisert) had to cover the final 7+ innings.
Tigers edge ahead: Detroit chipped away to take a 3–1 lead into the ninth behind Jack Flaherty’s 6.1 strong innings.
Sox tie it in the 9th: Will Vest couldn’t close it. After a Nick Maton single, Zach DeLoach and Travis Jankowski ripped back-to-back RBI doubles to tie the game 3–3.
Go-ahead in the 10th: With the ghost runner, Chicago scratched out a run on an Andrew Vaughn single and Miguel Vargas infield hit to go up 4–3.
Another walk-off: Detroit answered in the bottom half. Manuel Margot’s single, an error on Javier Báez’s grounder, and Eduardo Escobar’s sac fly off Brandon Eisert walked it off, 5–4.
Chicago fell to 2–6, with back-to-back extra-inning heartbreakers and a very taxed bullpen.
Game 3 – White Sox 7, Tigers 4 (called after 8) – April 6
The Sox finally cashed in on their early offense and got enough pitching to close the trip with a 7–4 win in a rain-shortened finale.
Tigers strike first: Spencer Torkelson’s leadoff homer and an RBI knock from Colt Keith staked Detroit to a 2–0 first-inning lead.
Immediate response: Chicago answered with two runs in the 2nd (Vargas double, Matt Thaiss RBI single, and a second run on an Andre Lipcius double play) to tie it 2–2, then took the lead for good with a Chase Meidroth triple and Andrew Vaughn RBI single in the 3rd.
Big middle innings:
4th: Luis Robert Jr. singled, stole second, and scored on a Nick Maton RBI single to make it 4–2.
5th: Vaughn opened with a solo homer off Casey Mize, then later in the frame Thaiss ripped a two-run double to blow it open at 7–2.
On the mound: Davis Martin gave a solid five innings (3 R, 2 ER, 5 K). Justin Anderson and Justin Dunn handled the late frames; Dunn surrendered a two-run shot to Zach McKinstry in the 7th, but that only cut it to 7–4.
Weather ends it early: Heavy rain rolled in, and after Chicago batted in the top of the eighth the game was called, locking in the 7–4 score.
The win snapped the skid and moved the Sox to 3–6, while also showing what the offense can do when the middle of the order (Vaughn, Robert Jr., Vargas, Thaiss) is clicking.
Big Picture
Late-inning offense: Three straight ninth-inning rallies show this lineup doesn’t roll over.
Bullpen strain: Two extra-inning walk-off losses and a rain-delay game exposed how thin the relief corps can look when overworked.
Roster note: The post-series release of Austin Slater signals a tightening of the outfield picture as the club leans into Robert Jr., Maton, Vargas, DeLoach/Jankowski, and the catching duo of Teel/Lee/Thaiss for offense.
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