Tigers climb out of 8-2 hole, bury White Sox with five-run eighth in 11-8 win

The first inning almost decided it

Detroit actually struck first when Colt Keith scored on a David Sandlin wild pitch, but that tiny lead disappeared inside a White Sox opening inning that was equal parts productive and punishing. Andrew Sears recorded only two outs, walked three, uncorked a wild pitch that brought home Tommy Pham, and watched another run score when Munetaka Murakami crossed on Hao-Yu Lee’s fielding error at third. Colson Montgomery then lined a three-run double to right, and Miguel Vargas added an RBI double as Chicago rushed ahead 6-1. The useful detail for Detroit is that only two White Sox runs all night were earned, which tells you how much of that mess was self-inflicted.

Chicago pushed the margin to 8-2 in the third when Vargas homered to left, a 403-foot shot that scored Brenton Doyle as well. At that point, the Tigers did not need style so much as stability, and their bullpen finally supplied it. Beau Brieske covered 2.1 innings with four strikeouts after Sears exited, then Brant Hurter, Tyler Kinley, Drew Sommers and Kenley Jansen took over the rest of the game. That four-man stretch was the quiet turning point: six innings, one hit, one walk, no runs and six strikeouts, which gave Detroit time to make its offense matter.

Detroit kept handing itself another inning

The Tigers’ first answer came before Chicago’s homer binge was complete. Kevin McGonigle singled to left in the third to bring home Eduardo Valencia and trim the score to 6-2, a reminder that Detroit was still getting traffic even while playing from behind. Vargas answered in the bottom half, but the important part for the Tigers was that they never stopped putting runners aboard.

The real climb began in the fifth. McGonigle drove a triple to center and suddenly three runs were gone from the White Sox lead, with Max Clark, Valencia and Hao-Yu Lee all scoring on one swing. In the sixth, Lee doubled to center to score Clark and make it 8-6. That sequence put McGonigle’s night in focus: two hits and four RBIs, with the biggest blow coming before the late-inning fireworks. Lee was even busier, finishing 4-for-5 with three RBIs, while Valencia scored three times and Clark crossed twice. Detroit did not steal anything here; it built the comeback on 16 hits, five walks and steady pressure over 46 plate appearances.

Then came the eighth, the inning that changed the box score from comeback attempt to completed rally. Lee tied it 8-8 with a two-run homer to right, Dingler followed with a single to right that scored McGonigle for Detroit’s first lead since the opening inning, and Riley Greene drove the final message with a 413-foot two-run homer to right-center. A game that had belonged to Chicago for seven innings was suddenly 11-8 Detroit. Sean Newcomb and Bryan Hudson combined to allow five runs in the inning, and that was the stretch the White Sox never recovered from.

Our take: the rally means something, but so do the mistakes

Detroit deserves credit for something more substantial than a lucky late burst. The Tigers hit .400 as a team, posted a .478 on-base percentage and forced Chicago pitchers to throw 193 pitches. Even with 13 runners left on base, they kept returning to the plate with another chance to cut the lead. That persistence matters. So does the warning label attached to it. Falling behind 6-1 in the first because of three walks, a wild pitch and two errors is not a sustainable way to start any series. Detroit’s lineup rescued the game, but cleaner defense and a calmer first inning from the pitching staff would make nights like this less dependent on rescue work.

From the White Sox side, the most frustrating part is that an eight-run night still felt incomplete. They scored eight times on seven hits, got a three-run game from Colson Montgomery and a two-run homer from Vargas, yet they were shut out from the fourth inning on and finished with 16 runners left on base. On the mound, the bigger problem was keeping a large lead from shrinking one inning at a time. Chicago pitchers struck out 10, but they also allowed 16 hits, five walks and 27 total bases, and the staff needed 193 pitches to get through nine innings. When a lead that large disappears, it usually means the game never truly settled, and the numbers here support that view.

A comeback worth remembering, and a collapse that explains itself

This was one of those baseball games whose shape tells the story as clearly as the final score. The White Sox scored eight runs but managed only seven hits and lost. The Tigers gave up eight runs but were charged with only two earned and still won by three. Detroit will remember the night for Lee’s all-around damage, McGonigle’s run-producing swings and Greene’s finishing shot, but the deeper reason the Tigers walked out with an 11-8 win was simpler: after the first three innings, they kept playing cleaner baseball than Chicago did. That was enough to turn a miserable start into one of their more resilient wins of the season.

Scoring moments

1. 1st Inning

   Keith scored on Sandlin wild pitch.

2. 1st Inning

   Keith scored on Sandlin wild pitch.

3. 1st Inning

   Pham scored on Sears wild pitch, Meidroth to second on wild pitch by Sears, Murakami to third on wild pitch by Sears.

4. 1st Inning

   Pham scored on Sears wild pitch, Meidroth to second on wild pitch by Sears, Murakami to third on wild pitch by Sears.

5. 1st Inning

   Murakami scored, Doyle safe at first on fielding error by third baseman Lee, Teel to second, Meidroth to third.

6. 1st Inning

   C. Montgomery doubled to right, Doyle scored, Meidroth scored and Teel scored.

7. 1st Inning

   Vargas doubled to left, C. Montgomery scored, Peters thrown out at home.

8. 3rd Inning

   McGonigle singled to left, Valencia scored.

9. 3rd Inning

   Vargas homered to left (403 feet), Doyle scored.

10. 5th Inning

    McGonigle tripled to center, Clark scored, Valencia scored and Lee scored.

11. 6th Inning

    Lee doubled to center, Clark scored.

12. 8th Inning

    Lee homered to right (362 feet), Valencia scored.

13. 8th Inning

    Dingler singled to right, McGonigle scored.

14. 8th Inning

    Greene homered to right center (413 feet), Dingler scored.