Torkelson's walk-off drive pushes Tigers to comeback win over White Sox
Published in Baseball
DETROIT — The Tigers stayed in the fight long enough to win it.
Trailing, 3-1, in the bottom of the ninth, they took advantage of three straight walks and stole a 4-3 victory and series sweep of the Chicago White Sox on a walk-off double by Spencer Torkelson.
The Tigers loaded the bases with one out in the ninth against lefty reliever Fraser Ellard. Lefty-swinging Zach McKinstry (10 pitches) and Riley Greene (four pitches) drew walks.
White Sox manager Will Venable summoned right-hander Jordan Leasure, who promptly walked Andy Ibáñez to force in a run.
Torkelson followed by ripping a double into the left-field corner.
These are not pleasant conditions for baseball players. Windy, a chilly 45 degrees at game time, the sun peeking in and out of the clouds. The thing about it, though, the conditions are the same for both teams.
Chicago’s veteran lefty, Martin Perez, seemed to handle things just fine. After throwing six no-hit innings against the Twins last week, he stifled the Tigers' offense for 6 1/3 innings Sunday.
It was more of a struggle for Tigers rookie Jackson Jobe. In his second big-league start, he battled inconsistent command with his fastball and didn’t seem to have a good feel for his curveball or changeup.
He grinded through five innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and three walks. He was at 75 pitches through four innings and his fifth ended quickly thanks to a sensational tag by shortstop Javier Báez.
Báez had to dive in front of the second base to snare the throw from catcher Dillon Dingler. He did that, catching the ball on the back leg of sliding base runner Luis Robert Jr., to record the caught-stealing.
Jobe’s usually high-octane fastball fluctuated in velocity from 94 to 97.6 mph, sitting at 95.9 mph, 1 mph off his season average. The spin rates on his secondary pitches were all down slightly, as well, especially his curveball, which didn’t have the same two-plane break it usually has.
As a result of that and having to work too often in disadvantaged counts, he got only six misses on 37 swings and 13 called strikes. Three of the six whiffs came on his slider, which was his rescue pitch in this one.
Jobe went 3-0 on the first hitter of the game, Mike Tauchman, who singled on a 3-1 pitch. Robert, Jr., walked after a nine-pitch at-bat. Andrew Vaughn singled in one run and Matt Thaiss’ sacrifice fly put the White Sox up 2-0 in the first.
The White Sox small-balled a third run off Jobe in the fourth. Thaiss singled on a 3-0 pitch. He hit a roller toward the mound that Jobe fielded and threw errantly to first base. Miguel Vargas walked and Brooks Baldwin moved both runners up with a sacrifice bunt.
Thaiss scored on a sacrifice fly Jacob Amaya.
The Tigers’ lone run off Martin came in the second inning. Báez, who had two of the four hits off him, singled home Manny Margot, who had singled and advanced to second on a long fly out to right by Kerry Carpenter.
They put the first two on in the third inning but Martin induced a 5-3 double play from Ibáñez.
Báez, who had three hits in the game, led off the fifth with a double but ended up stranded at third.
Perez left after getting Carpenter to tap one back to him leading off the seventh. Venable brought in right-hander Mike Clevinger, who walked pinch-hitter Trey Sweeney and Zach McKinstry with two outs.
Tigers manager AJ Hinch sent up lefty-swinging Riley Greene to pinch-hit. Venable countered with lefty Cam Booser. Lefties have hit Booser slightly better than righties (.274 average, .329 on-base) but with far less power.
Booser won the battle, striking Greene out.
The Tigers, 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, had two on with two outs in the eighth inning, too. This time Venable summoned lefty Fraser Ellard for lefty Carpenter and Ellard got him to ground out on the first pitch.
White Sox designated hitter Andrew Benintendi left the game in the fifth inning due to right adductor tightness.
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