Tigers 6, White Sox 1: Ian Kinsler drove in two runs, including an RBI double that broke a tie in the seventh inning, as host Detroit clinched a playoff berth.
Andrew Romine, Rajai Davis and Kinsler drove in runs in a three-run eighth while Miguel Cabrera and Nick Castellanos hit sacrifice flies for the Tigers, who increased their lead over Kansas City to two games in the American League Central with four to play and secured a spot in the postseason when Seattle lost to Toronto 1-0. Justin Verlander (15-12) extended his unbeaten string to four starts by winning his third straight decision after allowing one run and seven hits in eight innings.
Chicago's Chris Sale struck out 10 while yielding one run in six innings in his final start of 2014, all but wrapping up the ERA title in the AL at 2.17. Dayan Viciedo delivered an RBI triple for the White Sox, who lost 10 of the 19 meetings in 2014 and haven't won a season series with Detroit since 2008 - going 0-5-1.
Davis singled with one out in the seventh against Javy Guerra (2-4) and scored on Kinsler's double down the left-field line. Cabrera followed a single by Torii Hunter with a fly ball to bring home Kinsler and Romine's suicide squeeze plated the first run in the eighth before Davis delivered an RBI infield hit, stole second and scored on Kinsler's single to left-center - his 89th RBI of the season.
Chicago scored first in the sixth when Jose Abreu singled, stole second and reached third on catcher Bryan Holaday's throwing error, and scored on Viciedo's two-out triple into the right-center gap. With one out in the bottom half, Sale hit Victor Martinez with a pitch - prompting glares and a verbal exchange between the two which led to the benches and bullpens emptying - before J.D. Martinez (three hits) doubled and Castellanos lifted a sacrifice fly to right-center to tie the game.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Sale tipped his cap toward center field after striking out Victor Martinez to end the third and again after hitting him, appearing to insinuate that Martinez was receiving signals. Martinez is 15-for-29 against Sale, who was seen in the dugout during the top of the seventh pretending to use binoculars. ... Sale recorded his 18th game with 10 or more strikeouts in his 85th start with the White Sox, moving ahead of Ed Walsh (312 starts from 1904-16) for most in franchise history. ... Detroit is 10-5 during a 19-game stretch against AL Central teams to end the season.
Chi. White Sox | Detroit | |
Chris Sale | Player | Justin Verlander |
No Decision | W/L | Win |
6.0 | IP | 8.0 |
10 | Strikeouts | 6 |
4 | Hits | 7 |
1.50 | ERA | 1.12 |
Chi. White Sox | Detroit | |
Conor Gillaspie | Player | Rajai Davis |
2 | Hits | 3 |
0 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
2 | TB | 3 |
.500 | Avg | .750 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Chi. White Sox | 7 | 0 | 9 | .206 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Detroit | 10 | 0 | 12 | .345 | 16 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 |