Harold Castro singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and the host Detroit Tigers slowed the Chicago White Sox’s drive to a division title with a 4-3 victory on Monday.
Chicago reliever Craig Kimbrel (4-5) set down the first two batters in the eighth before hitting Robbie Grossman with a pitch. Grossman stole second and scored on Castro’s single to right.
Drew Hutchison (2-1) struck out three batters in two innings of scoreless relief and was credited with the victory for Detroit (73-78). Alex Lange earned his first major league save by recording three groundball outs in the ninth.
Victor Reyes added an RBI single and scored a run for the Tigers, who prevailed despite being limited to four hits.
Detroit starter Matt Manning allowed three runs on four hits in five innings. Ian Krol followed Manning and struck out two in a 1-2-3 inning.
Eloy Jimenez had an RBI double for Chicago (85-65) in the opener of a three-game series. White Sox starter Carlos Rodon gave up three runs, two earned, on two hits and struck out six in three innings. Jose Ruiz, the first reliever used by the White Sox, pitched two shutout innings of one-hit relief.
Manning walked two batters in the second but got out of that jam. He wasn’t so fortunate in the third.
The White Sox loaded the bases as Brian Goodwin walked, Tim Anderson singled and Luis Robert was hit by a pitch.
Yoan Moncada’s fielder’s choice grounder knocked in the first run. Yasmani Grandal brought home Anderson with a sacrifice fly, and Jimenez’s double scored Robert to make it 3-0.
Detroit tied it in the bottom of the inning. Isaac Paredes walked and Willi Castro singled. Reyes knocked in the first run with a single.
Tigers second baseman Cesar Hernandez then failed to tag Reyes on Jonathan Schoop’s grounder and no outs were recorded as Castro scored. Reyes advanced to third on a long fly and scored on Miguel Cabrera’s sacrifice fly.
–Field Level Media