Norris Leads Tigers To 6-0 Win Over White Sox
CHICAGO (AP) — Daniel Norris pitched one-hit ball for five innings and Tyler Collins had a bases-clearing triple as the Detroit Tigers finished their first-to-worst tumble in the AL Central with a 6-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
The Tigers (74-87) entered this season the four-time defending division champion but were hurt by significant injuries and shaky pitching in falling to last place for the first time in seven years.
Chicago finished the season at 76-86, in fourth in the Central, a slight improvement over last year, when the Sox won 73 games.
Norris (3-2) didn't give up a hit until Trayce Thompson's triple in the fourth. Thompson was stranded on third, however, when Alexei Ramirez hit into an inning-ending double play.Collins hit his bases-loaded triple in the seventh inning after White Sox reliever Daniel Webb gave up a single to Bryan Holaday and walks to Dixon Machado and J.D. Martinez.
White Sox starter Frankie Montas (0-2) was pulled after four innings after giving up one run on two hits and three walks. Montas, who was making just his second major league start, struck out seven.
The Tigers got a run in the first inning on a double by Nick Castellanos that scored Anthony Gose and added one in the fifth when Gose led off with a triple off Chicago reliever Zach Putnam and later scored on Martinez' sacrifice fly. Detroit added a run in the eighth on Josh Wilson's RBI single scoring Jefry Marte.
American League batting champion Miguel Cabrera didn't play for Detroit on Sunday after hitting two home runs in Saturday's loss to the White Sox. Cabrera finished the season with a .338 average, well ahead of Boston's Xander Bogaerts.
Cabrera became the first player to win the AL batting title four times in a five year span since Wade Boggs won four straight from 1985-1988.
Both Chicago manager Robin Ventura and Detroit manager Brad Ausmus will return next season.
TRAINER'S ROOM
White Sox: CF Adam Eaton will undergo arthroscopic surgery to clean up his left shoulder on Monday. He said he hopes to be able to fish two to three weeks after the procedure. "We knew it was there, and now we're just going to go in and clean it up so he can feel 100 percent when he gets to spring training," manager Robin Ventura said. "But he does play well when he has something wrong, so that's a good sign."
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