The Tigers saddled up for their final game of the Chicago series, meanwhile Ty Madden’s entire extended family took over a full section of Guaranteed Rate Field. Madden, of course, was making his major league debut for the Tigers, and opposing him for the White Sox was Davis Martin.
In the top of the first, Matt Vierling got a two-out walk, but the Tigers were unable to bring him home. In the home half of the inning. Madden got his first taste of major league hitting (even if it was the White Sox), and gave up a one-out walk to Luis Robert Jr. Andrew Benintendi then reached on a fielding error from birthday boy Spencer Torkelson. Robert advanced to third on the error, then an Andrew Vaughn sac fly scored Robert and put the Sox on the board. Not an earned run for Madden, at least.
Jace Jung singled to start the second, and two outs quickly followed. Trey Sweeney then got a single of his own, but the Tigers weren’t able to convert the runs. Madden gave up a single to Dominic Fletcher, but a double play quickly erased the baserunner.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the third. Onto the home half and Brooks Baldwin got a leadoff single, then stole second. Nicky Lopez followed that up with a walk. a force out eliminated Baldwin, but left Lopez on second and Robert Jr. on first. With two outs, Andrew Vaughn singled to score Lopez.
In the fourth, Spencer Torkelson had a two-out single, and Zach McKinstry singled right after him, but both were left stranded. In the bottom of the inning, Dominic Fletcher got a one-out single, but Madden got the final two outs in a row.
With two outs in the fifth, Kerry Carpenter singled, followed by a Matt Vierling single. Colt Keith got the third hit in a row, to bring Carpenter home and put the Tigers on the board. The White Sox had to settle for an Andrew Benintendi walk, but no runs scored. That was it for Madden after five, with a final line of 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K on 87 pitches. Overall a fine start, but nothing to write home about (Except, of course, for his whole family).
Davis Martin was done after five, with Jared Shuster coming in for the Sox in relief. Spencer Torkelson got a birthday double, but three outs followed to leave him standing on second. Sean Guenther came out for the Tigers in the sixth, and got three in a row out.
Parker Meadows said “tie, what tie?” and hit a leadoff homer in the top of the seventh.
Matt Vierling then got a one-out walk. Keith then dropped a single into short right, sending Vierling to third. Jace Jung wasted no time singling to bring Vierling home and giving the Tigers the lead. That was it for Shuster as well. Justin Anderson was next out of the White Sox pen, and immediately gave up a home run to Spencer Torkelson to score three more runs and put the Tigers up 6-2. Andy Ibanez got a single as well, but unfortunately no additional runs scored.
In the home half, Brooks Baldwin got a one-out single, then with two outs, Beau Brieske came in out of the pen to get the final out of the inning.
Onto the eighth and another new reliever in Sammy Peralta, who after a lengthy PitchCom delay, walked Kerry Carpenter. Carpenter was soon eliminated by a force out off the bat of Vierling. The Tigers didn’t manage to get any additional runs. In the home half, Brieske gave up at home to Benintendi. That was all the White Sox managed for the inning.
In the top of the ninth, the Tigers went 1-2-3. Tyler Holton came in for the Tigers in the bottom of the ninth, hoping to keep the score unchanged. And he did just that, getting the side out in order, and the Tigers find themselves officially at the .500 mark!
Final: Tigers 6, White Sox 3