On a rainy Saturday afternoon, a somewhat tired looking Tigers squad dropped a 4-0 game to the Chicago White Sox. Apart from a strong three innings from Jackson Jobe, there wasn’t much to report as the bats just weren’t sharp in this one.
The start of Saturday’s penultimate game was delayed for almost two and a half hours by the weather, and that may have been all for the best. After a celebration a decade in the making as they clinched a wild card berth on Friday night, a little nap, a little extra caffeine, possibly a B-12 shot, were on the menu with the extra time to prepare. Of course, I’m just talking about myself. For young athletes, this was probably only a minor issue, but they clearly weren’t real sharp in this one.
The game started with a pretty heavy rain still present, but conditions were expected to improve as the afternoon unfolded. However, they never really did and a steady rain accompanied the whole game.
Beau Brieske took the mound as the opener on a day in which possible delays made the bullpen game strategy an even better idea than normal. He had no trouble with the Sox, tossing a 1-2-3 inning capped by blowing away Andrew Benintendi with a 99 mph heater.
Between innings, Tarik Skubal and Jake Rogers were spotted sitting together under their hoodies in their rain. They looked like guys who were still feeling last night’s celebration to a degree. Skubal would retreat to cover on the bench, with Rogers conducting an in-game interview in the bottom of the second and joking that they can’t let the show pony get wet.
The White Sox went with right-hander Sean Burke, a pretty hard thrower with a good riding fourseamer, slider, and curveball. The 24-year-old was making his third major league start. He’s racked up the strikeouts in the minor leagues, but walks and a few too many home runs allowed from a fly ball profile kept him from being a really notable prospect. Improvement in command punched his ticket to the show, and he looked pretty impressive early.
Parker Meadows struck out, but Kerry Carpenter and Wenceel Pérez looked no worse for wear, putting together tough at-bats and fouling off some tough pitches to draw walks. Burke was at 25 pitches in the first already as Riley Greene stepped into the box. Unfortunately, he lined into a double play to the second baseman, Lenyn Sosa to end the inning.
Brieske allowed a solo shot into the Tigers’ bullpen to Bryan Ramos in the top of the second, sending it to the bottom half with a 1-0 White Sox lead.
Colt Keith slapped a Burke slider into center field for a leadoff single to start things off. Spencer Torkelson struck out, but Burke was getting wilder and Jace Jung drew a walk to put two on for Zach McKinstry in the 8 hole. We noted that Jackson Jobe was warming in the bullpen as McKinstry flew out to left field. Dillon Dingler worked into a 2-2 count but swung under a high fastball to send this to the third.
Jobe did indeed take over in the third as the rain continued. He missed with a couple of cutters and then a fastball to walk Chuckie Robinson. He got ahead of Jacob Amaya with a pair of well located 96 mph fastballs, then missed with a pair of pitches. Amaya fouled off another heater, but Jobe dropped a nasty split change into the top of the zone for his first major league strikeout.
Miguel Vargas pulled grounder to third, but Jung couldn’t handle it as it skipped on the wet turf and bounced into left field. Zach DeLoach lined out to center field, and Jobe needed to get Andrew Benintendi to escape unscathed. He fell behind 2-1 with a couple of changeups that sailed away, but got a foul on a low fastball to even the count. Benintendi then flew out on a 97 mph heater to right center field to end the threat.
Parker Meadows flew out to a warning track filling with water in right field to start the bottom half. Burke dusted Carpenter with a high fastball, and Pérez took a heater down the middle for strike three to send us to the fourth.
The rain was unrelenting, but play continued uninterrupted. Andrew Vaughn soft tapped Jobe’s first pitch in front of the plate to open the inning. Jobe pounced, turned, and whipped a firm sidearm throw on target to first. Sosa lifted a soft fly ball out to Carpenter in right. Ramos saw a few 98 mph heaters and was down in the count, but Dillon Dingler tipped Ramos’ bat with his glove for catchers’ interference. Dominic Fletcher hit it harder, but it was still a fly out to right center field to end the inning. Jobe did try to bend a sweeper in there during the inning but missed and the grip issues made it more of a fastball-change type of day.
More and more, this was looking like the game would be called when they reached the minimum, so the Tigers needed to score. Maybe “need” is too strong, as this was probably just a game to get through after last night. Either way, Riley Greene and Colt Keith grounded out, Burke continued to show good stuff and decent command, and Torkelson flew out into the left field corner where Benintendi made a nice play against the wall. The Tigers were undoubtedly not at their sharpest today, but Burke looks like a pretty good young pitcher for them going forward.
On to the fifth.
Jobe dropped in a sweeper for strike one on Robinson, then missed inside with two fastballs. A cutter on the outer edge down got a foul ball, and Jobe dropped another evil changeup right-on-right on the inner edge. Strikeout number two. Amaya spanked a hot one-hopper to Torkelson for the second out, and Vargas flew out.
Jackson Jobe finishes his second MLB outing with 3 hitless innings, a walk and 2 K’s. 39 pitches, 24 strikes, 10 of them called. Fastball topped out at 98, and he spun a few sliders, something they wanted to work in after staying away from it in his debut. Ty Madden warming.
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) September 28, 2024
Jung opened the bottom of the fourth with a ground out, and McKinstry popped out to second base. However, Dillon Dingler ripped a drive down the left field line for a double as the ball got stuck under the fence where the stands jut out toward the field. That gave Parker Meadows an RBI opportunity, but he swung over a slider down and in for strike three.
Ty Madden took over in the sixth as the rain continued to be just light enough to allow play. DeLoach grounded out, but Benintendi doubled into the right field corner. Madden left a 1-2 splitter up on the inner edge to Andrew Vaughn and he pulled an RBI single through the left side for a 2-0 lead. Sosa lined a 93 mph fastball into center field for a single, and things were not looking good as Madden struggled to spot his stuff.
Chris Fetter came out for a soothing chat, and Madden got a foul and then a whiff on a good cutter down and away to Ramos. He tried it there twice more but Ramos wasn’t biting, so he dialed up a firmer fastball and while it was right down the middle, Ramos swung through it. A ground out stranded the two runners, and Madden was out of the inning.
Right now, you’d have to think that Madden is getting left on the taxi squad for the postseason along with Jace Jung. Madden has plenty of potential, but hasn’t done enough to bump Maeda off the playoff roster.
Right-hander Mike Soroka took over for a fairly impressive Burke in the bottom of the sixth. Carpenter led off with a fly out to left and Pérez popped out. Riley Greene worked a 3-2 count and then swung over a breaking ball.
Madden stayed with high heat against Robinson and got a fly out to open the seventh. Amaya grounded out, and Vargas watched a 96 mph heater on the outer edge that drew a slightly generous call for strike three.
Soroka struck out Colt Keith to open the bottom half, and then got Torkelson chasing a slider down. Jace Jung grounded out, and the Tigers swings and general at-bats were looking a little tired as the game headed into the late innings.
Madden walked DeLoach to start the eighth, his fourth inning of work. In a 2-2 count, he left a cutter right over the middle to Benintendi and it ended up just over the right field wall for a 4-0 White Sox lead.
Andrew Vaughn lifted a routine fly ball to right for the first out of the inning. Sosa flew out to Carpenter in right as well, and Ramos flew out to Meadows to end the Sox half of the inning.
Soroka got a ground out from McKinstry to open the bottom half of the eighth. Dingler struck out, and for the first time in a month it was hard to envision a comeback. Justyn-Henry Malloy hit for Meadows but he was tied up by a 3-2 breaking ball up and in to send it to the ninth.
Lefty Sean Guenther, who has been nails since getting called up in August, took over in the ninth. Pérez moved to center field, with McKinstry taking over in left and Andy Ibáñez at shortstop. Guenther was nails yet again, getting a pair of quick outs and then badly fooling Amaya with a splitter down for strike three.
So it was last call. Gus Varland took over for the Sox, and Ibáñez greeted him with a 400 foot fly out to center field. Wenceel wasn’t going quietly, and he smoked a ball deep up the right center field gap and hit the afterburners out of the box to cruise into third with a triple. Riley Greene lifted a shallow fly to left that wasn’t deep enough to score on with Benintendi out there. Colt Keith lifted a shallow high fly to center for the final out of the game.
Ok, let’s just forget this one. Not really surprising to lose today, and they have tomorrow to lock back in for the final game of the season with the Wild Card Series starting on Tuesday in either Baltimore, most likely, or Houston.