Troy Melton and three relievers combined on a two-hit shutout and Wenceel Perez contributed a run-scoring sacrifice fly to help the Detroit Tigers defeat the host Chicago White Sox 1-0 on Wednesday.
White Sox pitching limited the Tigers to just five hits, but Detroit capitalized to earn a three-game series victory.
Will Vest notched his 18th save with a perfect ninth. Sawyer Gipson-Long and Kyle Finnegan were the bridge between Melton, with Finnegan issuing Detroit’s lone walk.
Melton and fellow rookie right-hander Shane Smith of Chicago dueled for the first five innings. Smith scattered two hits and three walks with five strikeouts without walking a batter while throwing 56 of his 92 pitches for strikes.
Melton (3-1) yielded just one hit and struck out six against zero walks, throwing strikes on 43 of 56 pitches.
Smith worked around two-out singles in each of the first two innings as well as walks in the third, fourth and fifth but kept the Tigers off the scoreboard.
Melton matched his effectiveness to set a brisk pace. Starting for the first time since July 28 against Arizona, he retired the first 12 batters he faced, including three by strikeout. Luis Robert Jr. spoiled the run when he doubled to lead off the fifth, but Melton recovered, escaping trouble with swinging strikeouts of Andrew Benintendi, Miguel Vargas and Edgar Quero.
Detroit broke through against White Sox reliever Martin Perez in the sixth. After loading the bases on a single, double and walk, the Tigers got on the board when Wenceel Perez hit an RBI sacrifice fly to the warning track in left-center.
Kerry Carpenter, who scored the lone run, had two hits for Detroit.
Martin Perez (1-2) took the loss, allowing one run and three hits in 3 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out four.
The game was played in 2 hours, 19 minutes. That came on the heels of Tuesday’s 9-6 Chicago victory, which took 3 hours, 23 minutes and marked Detroit’s longest nine-inning game since the pitch clock was initiated in 2023.
Detroit won for the seventh time in 10 meetings with Chicago to clinch the season series.
The White Sox fell to 9-27 in one-run games.
–Field Level Media
