One victory shy of securing their sixth straight home series win, the Chicago White Sox applauded the fans who have backed them through the early stages of what’s shaping up as a turnaround season.
“Having all of them (a crowd of 30,019) here in the stadium, showing all the love for us, and seeing them support the team the whole year, that brings all the energy for us in the clubhouse,” third baseman Miguel Vargas said.
After Vargas delivered his first career walk-off home run Friday in the 10th inning, the White Sox will try to win the three-game series from the Detroit Tigers on Saturday afternoon. But they will play without slugging first baseman Munetaka Murakami, who left in the third inning of Friday’s 4-3 win with right hamstring tightness.
Chicago manager Will Venable said Murakami — the American League co-leader with 20 home runs — will undergo further evaluation Saturday but is facing a recovery of “probably a couple of weeks.”
Colson Montgomery and Vargas are next for the White Sox with 13 homers apiece. Murakami shares the AL home-run lead with Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros.
“Home run” is a four-base hit for every club but arguably is a four-letter word to the Tigers. Detroit has surrendered four walk-off homers this season and has lost two straight games and 19 of its last 23.
“It’s not numb,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “It still hurts. Obviously, we want to win every game.
“We want to win as many games as we can, and we’re having a hard time. … There’s no good way to walk off the field. When you’re the visiting team and you’re walking off the field, the emotion is pretty deep. It’s not a great feeling, and we’ve got to go home with it, come back tomorrow and play another game.”
White Sox pitching limited the Tigers to four hits in the series opener, including a pair of Riley Greene singles. Greene is 4-for-12 in his past three games on the heels of an 0-for-11 slump.
Dillon Dingler’s two-run blast in the third inning extended his team lead to 11 homers for the season.
Saturday’s pitching matchup will pit a pair of left-handers in Chicago’s Anthony Kay (4-1, 3.96 ERA) and Detroit’s Framber Valdez (2-3, 4.28).
Kay will aim for his second victory of the homestand and fourth in six May starts. He defeated the Minnesota Twins 3-1 on Monday behind six innings of one-run, five-hit ball with one walk and five strikeouts.
After three straight starts without allowing a home run, Kay gave up a solo shot to Minnesota’s Brooks Lee. He has yet to face the Tigers in his career.
Valdez boasts plenty of experience and success against Chicago. He is 5-3 with a 3.00 ERA in 10 appearances, including nine starts, with 60 strikeouts in 57 innings.
While Valdez is 0-2 with a 6.10 ERA in four starts this month — which started with a five-game suspension for intentionally throwing at Boston’s Trevor Story in a May 5 loss — Valdez has shown more consistency lately.
He has delivered two quality starts in his past three turns in the rotation. The latest came Sunday, when Valdez scattered one run, two hits, two walks and five strikeouts in six innings in a no-decision at Baltimore. The Tigers lost 5-3.
–Field Level Media
