The Detroit Tigers had a chance to overtake the first-place Chicago White Sox this weekend. Instead, they’ll look to salvage the finale of a three-game home series on Sunday afternoon.
Chicago pounded out a 9-5 win on Friday and followed it up with a 4-3 squeaker on Saturday. The White Sox now hold a 4 1/2-game lead over Detroit in the American League Central Division.
“That’s great, we won a series,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “That’s what we came here to do, is to win a series, and you can make a big deal of the fact that it’s the Tigers. That’s not really where we’re at. We just want to go out and win every series, and obviously the guys got it done.”
The Tigers remain determined to make the playoffs, either by eventually catching the White Sox or via the last wild-card spot. The Tigers are one of six teams fighting for that berth.
“I just have never seen this team pout and I love that about this group,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’re going to need to dig a little deeper. We keep getting pretty close to that .500 line but we’re still in the thick of everything and our team knows that. We’ve been clawing at this deficit for the better part of the season. So the threat of deflation should be zero given the previous behavior of this group.”
Detroit had won nine of 12 games prior to the series.
“We would’ve liked to win this game and put ourselves in position to be leading the division,” said right-hander Troy Melton, who started the game on Saturday but didn’t figure into the decision. “But the job is the same. We have to win as many games as we can. We’re still in a playoff spot and we have a lot of baseball to play, a lot of important baseball. We have to keep winning games and stacking them up.”
Right-hander Drew Anderson (4-4, 3.91) will start the series finale for the Tigers. He moved into the rotation after Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize were traded at the deadline.
Anderson tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings in a 4-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Aug. 5 and allowed one run and four hits while striking out four in four innings of a 6-4 win against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday. He didn’t figure into either decision.
He has four career relief appearances against the White Sox and is 2-2 with a 6.35 ERA. Three of those appearances have come this season, and he is 1-2 on those games. He has allowed four runs (three earned) in 2 2/3 innings and home runs to Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas.
Anderson will be opposed by right-hander Sean Burke (7-6, 2.99 ERA), who is 1-0 with a 1.56 ERA in three career starts against Detroit. He won a 2-1 game against the Tigers on May 31, allowing one run on three hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Burke was sharp in his most recent outing on Tuesday, limiting Cincinnati to one run and three hits in seven innings. He didn’t issue a walk while notching eight strikeouts. The White Sox lost 5-4 in 10 innings.
“He was awesome,” Venable said after the game. “Feel like he one-ups himself every time he goes out there. Really good feel for the slider. Thought he got a ton of swing and miss on it. A good fastball again.”
The only run off Burke was a solo shot by Cincinnati’s Eugenio Suarez.
“I’d trade a bad performance for a win,” Burke said. “A one-run game, the mistake to Suarez will eat at me a little bit. I shook off (catcher Edgar Quero) and went with a fastball. He put a good swing on it.”
–Field Level Media
