Detroit Tigers record 10 hits but fall 6-4 to Chicago White Sox for sixth loss in a row

Jose Abreu advanced to second base on a fly ball to center field.

Center fielder Riley Greene fired the ball to shortstop Javier Báez, who applied the tag but apparently not in time. Abreu, safe at second base, scored three pitches later on a single from Andrew Vaughn.

It was the go-ahead run.

The Detroit Tigers lost, 6-4, to the Chicago White Sox in the second of three games at Guaranteed Rate Field on Saturday night. The Tigers, the second-worst team in the American League, have lost six games in a row.

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The Tigers (43-72) challenged the Abreu tag.

The call on the field — safe — was upheld by the replay review. If Báez would have held the tag, Abreu would have been out, as he slid off the bag at the end of the play, but by that point, Báez was looking at second base umpire Jerry Layne and showing him the ball in his glove.

“We saw the replay because they showed it on the big board,” manager A.J. Hinch told reporters in Chicago. “That’s as big of a screenshot as you can get during the review. Javy’s body language was that he got him; Abreu’s body language was that he got him. It comes back as the call stands, so it’s a frustrating time.”

Following Vaughn’s RBI single for a 5-4 lead, Hinch replaced right-handed reliever Joe Jiménez with left-hander Andrew Chafin. After making a pitching change, Hinch argued the call on the field and was quietly ejected by Layne.

“Obviously, you’re not supposed to argue replay,” Hinch said to reporters after the game. “I think Jerry gave me a little bit of a leash but eventually threw me out. … You got to defend your team. It’s a big moment in the game. The original call matters. The replay matters. I get it. I think we’re all frustrated with replay at some level across the league. I think it’s right a lot of the times. Sometimes, it’s frustrating. In a game like that, I’m going to defend the guys.”

AJ Pollock homered off Chafin with two outs in the eighth inning, making it 6-4.

Rookie designated hitter Kerry Carpenter notched his first MLB hit in the third game of his career. He hit a single on the ground and into center field on a second-pitch fastball from White Sox closer Liam Hendricks in the ninth inning.

Battered, then beaten

Right-hander Matt Manning allowed four runs on 10 hits and one walk with five strikeouts. Those runs were scattered across three innings, with one run in the first, two in the second and one in the fourth.

Pollock and Yoan Moncada hit back-to-back singles in the first, leading to a one-out sacrifice fly from Abreu for a 1-0 advantage. After the Tigers scored three runs in the top of the second, the White Sox tied the game, 3-3, on an RBI single from Leury Garcia and a sacrifice fly from Pollock in the second.

“In the beginning of the game,” Hinch said, “he had a hard time landing his spin, and they hit him hard. He gave up a lot of hits, but he rebounded with a pretty good finish and a couple zeros toward the end.”

The Tigers took the lead in the top of the third, but the White Sox evened the score at four runs in the bottom of the fourth. A two-out walk to Moncada extended the inning and put two runners on, and Eloy Jimenez made Manning pay with an RBI single.

Laboring through four innings, Manning returned for the fifth and worked around a one-out single. He struck out the final two batters he faced: Gavin Sheets (foul tip, changeup) and Garcia (swinging strike, 96.3 mph fastball).

“He had a hard time with his secondary pitches,” Hinch said. “He didn’t throw right-on-right changeups until later in his outing. When he spun a few breaking balls in the zone, they hit it. He had to battle.”

Manning became the first Tigers pitcher to allow 10-plus hits in an outing while holding an opponent to no more than four runs since Tyler Alexander on in September 2019, also against the White Sox.

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For his 86 pitches (62 strikes), Manning used 35 four-seam fastballs (41%), 27 sinkers (31%), 12 changeups (14%), six curveballs (7%) and six sliders (7%). He recorded 17 swings and misses: eight four-seamers, five sinkers, three changeups and one slider.

His fastball averaged 94.4 mph.

Offense perks up

Facing right-hander Lucas Giolito, the Tigers scored four runs on eight hits and one walk with seven strikeouts. Detroit’s offense — which entered Saturday averaging 3.17 runs per game — produced 10 hits and two walks with 11 strikeouts in the game.

“He settled down and held us down in the tail end of his outing,” Hinch said of Giolito.

The Tigers posted three of their four runs in the second inning, thanks to a solid plate appearance by Carpenter. He fell behind 0-2 in the count with two outs but took four consecutive balls for a crucial six-pitch walk.

Jonathan Schoop and Akil Baddoo picked up back-to-back singles to load the bases, and Greene scored all three teammates with a double — his 10th double this season — to center field for a 3-1 lead.

The fourth run occurred in the third on Eric Haase’s RBI double, which put the visiting team back in front, 4-3, against Giolito. From that point forward, Giolito and the White Sox slammed the door on the Tigers.

Giolito completed seven innings on 92 pitches (64 strikes).

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.