Garica's big 'hit' lifts Sox over Tigers in 11

When you're not swinging the bats with any consistency, you take runs any way you can get them.

In the White Sox' case, they're very happy to take Friday night's 4-3 win in 11 innings over Detroit.

"For Avi, he's going to have a nice mark but it's a win," closer David Robertson said after Detroit reliever Alex Wilson hit Avisial Garcia with a pitch in the 11th with the bases loaded and no outs.

Garcia was getting treatment on his right arm and wasn't available in the postgame clubhouse, but he took part in the celebration after being drilled and forcing in Adam Eaton from third base with the deciding run.

And even though the Sox' bats were quiet until late in the game, there was plenty to celebrate in the first of three games against the Tigers, who have lost eight straight.

"That might be the first," manager Robin Ventura said of Garcia's walk-off hit by pitch. "I don't think anybody really knew what to do at that point because you see the ball go down and nobody really knew what to do quite yet. Usually you celebrate when a guy hits it, but when it hit him everybody froze for a second and then you realize that you win the game."

In the ninth inning, it looked like the White Sox were going to lose the game.

Trailing 3-2 with two outs, Adam LaRoche woke up the U.S. Cellular Field crowd of 24,761 with a solo home run off Detroit closer Joakim Soria to send the game into extra innings.

"Usually, it's the bases loaded and you're down by three," LaRoche said of his dream home run in the bottom of the ninth. "But we've got to keep playing that with two outs and that could have ended it. That was pretty special."

LaRoche has 7 homers on the season, and Friday's clutch blast was the 250th of his career.

"That's pretty cool," he said.

And so was the White Sox' win over the Tigers.

"It's a gutty game," Ventura said. "It goes down to LaRoche battling to the last out and popping one and getting us back into it. The bullpen did a great job. Q (starter Jose Quintana) did, too. He was cruising there for awhile and then they chipped away and got two, but for us it was just a couple plays in there that kept us in there and gave us a chance.

"You talk about not hitting homers and then tonight we hit two homers to get us back into it, so it was a nice gutty win for our guys."

Lineup change:

The White Sox' offense has flopped over the first third of the season, and Melky Cabrera has been the biggest individual disappointment.

Signed to a three-year, $42 million contract in December, Cabrera was 0-for-4 Friday and is batting .230 with 1 home run and 17 RBI.

A switch-hitter, Cabrera is 4-for-50 from the right side.

Manager Robin Ventura altered the lineup Friday, dropping Cabrera from second to sixth while elevating Alexei Ramirez to the No. 2 spot.

"You would expect it to be better than it is," Ventura said. "For that, I think you just drop (Cabrera) down until he figures that out. I think against lefties, it makes sense. You wouldn't expect a guy like him that's had a track record like that to go through a funk like this. Something's in there that obviously isn't clicking right now but it eventually will."