White Sox Pound Tigers, 10-4
DETROIT (AP) — Tim Anderson, Matt Davidson and the Chicago White Sox are on the verge of slugging their way out of last place.
Anderson had a career-high four hits and stole two bases, and Davidson and Nicky Delmonico both homered for Chicago in a 10-4 victory over Detroit on Saturday night. The White Sox have won the season series with the Tigers for the first time since 2008 and now trail Detroit by only a game for fourth place in the AL Central.
The White Sox have won six of eight, outscoring their opponents 69-26. The Tigers are 3-13 in September.
"We've just been stringing together good ABs," Anderson said. "Everybody's been putting the barrel on the ball and we've just been having fun and finishing up strong."
The White Sox have won 10 of 18 against Detroit this year. The teams have one meeting remaining Sunday.
Delmonico hit a two-run shot to open the scoring in the first, and Chicago jumped to an early 6-0 lead, chasing starter Myles Jaye (1-2) in the second. Davidson hit a solo shot in the fifth.
Reynaldo Lopez (2-3) allowed four runs and seven hits in seven innings.
Detroit's Miguel Cabrera left at the start of the fifth with back tightness.
"All that standing around on defense is tough for him," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. "It started to tighten up in the first couple innings."
The low point for Detroit was probably the second inning, when the Tigers allowed four runs after Jaye retired the first two batters. Alen Hanson doubled home a run, and after a walk to Yolmer Sanchez, Yoan Moncada singled to right, scoring Hanson from second and sending Sanchez to third.
Right fielder Nicholas Castellanos threw home on that play and was charged with an error when the ball went past the catcher and Moncada advanced to second. Jaye, who had been backing up home, threw to second in a futile attempt to get Moncada, and Sanchez came home on that throw to make it 5-0.
"We have a lot of new faces in this room, and we are going to have to build a new culture here," Tigers catcher James McCann said. "That can't wait for the spring. We need to start now, and that means grinding through these games and finding a way to have fun."
Jose Abreu added an RBI single in the second and hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth for Chicago. Davidson's 25th homer of the season made it 8-4.
The White Sox have taken two of the first three games of this series, scoring 29 runs with 50 hits.
"They've been doing a nice job," manager Rick Renteria said. "They've been trying to put together as good at-bats as they possibly can. It's still a process. It's still something that continues to develop, and we're happy to see some of the things that are going on right now."
McCann hit a two-run triple and scored in the second, and Detroit's Mikie Mahtook added a triple of his own to bring home a run in the fourth.
Chicago and Detroit split their 18 games in 2009, and the Tigers had won the season series every year since.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Abreu has 97 RBIs on the season. If he gets three more, he'll become the third player to begin his major league career with four straight seasons of at least 25 homers and 100 RBIs. Joe DiMaggio and Albert Pujols were the others. ... Castellanos extended his hitting streak to 13 games. ... Hanson scored three runs. ... McCann had three hits.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Tigers: Ausmus said he spoke to DH Victor Martinez recently. Martinez had a surgical procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat earlier in the week. "He was in good spirits, felt good," Ausmus said.
UP NEXT
White Sox: RHP Dylan Covey (0-5) takes the mound Sunday to try for his first major league win.
Tigers: Detroit starts LHP Matthew Boyd (5-10).
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