Playoff-bound White Sox lose regular-season finale to Tigers
The Detroit Tigers scored three rain-soaked runs in the ninth inning on Sunday afternoon, snapping a 2-2 tie against the White Sox that also ended the club's six-game winning streak.
But the bigger picture, well beyond Chicago's 5-2 defeat, was symbolized by the rainbow that lingered for minutes thereafter in their regular season finale at Guaranteed Rate Field. For the first time in their 121-year history, the Sox are heading to the playoffs for the second straight year.
Champions of the American League Central Division with a final record of 93-69, the Sox travel to Houston, AL West champs, to play the Astros in Game 1 Thursday of their best-of-five American League division series. The loss Sunday does little to dampen the team's momentum, said Sox manager Tony La Russa.
"For our team, it was important to have a week or so where we cranked out a lot of clutch pitches, plays, at bats," La Russa said. "Guys feel good."
"As a team, we're excited to have the opportunity," said Dylan Cease, the Sox starting pitcher on Sunday. "We've played well, and I think we're hungry and ready for it."
Though occasionally wild and not especially sharp, Cease showed no ill effects from the right triceps bruise that he sustained nine days earlier. He also worked through recurring trouble, limiting Detroit to four hits and only one first-inning run. Cease whiffed 5 to finish the campaign with 226 strikeouts, third in the American League.
Relief pitcher Michael Kopech turned in 3 strong innings to demonstrate that he's ready to be a midgame bridge in the playoffs. He gave up a run on a Harold Castro sacrifice fly in the fifth but was otherwise overpowering. His 51 pitches were third-most of his 44 outings this season, and Kopech's 6 strikeouts gave him 103 in only 69⅓ innings in 2021.
He ended with a 97 mph heater on the outside corner that caught Isaac Paredes looking on a full count. A pitch earlier, Kopech hadn't gotten umpire Ben May's on-the-black call in nearly the same spot on an 84 mph slider.
Following Kopech, Ryan Tepera struck out two in his one-two-three inning of efficiency.
Another bright spot for the Sox were the two hits by outfielder Adam Engel, who scored the tying run after leading off the seventh with a double. He came around on an Andrew Vaughn single to right field.
Perhaps most vitally, nobody was injured. A protracted seventh-inning rundown that hamstring-rehabbed Tim Anderson found himself in between third base and home plate may well have understandably sent La Russa's blood pressure through the roof.
In the end, Anderson was tagged out to conclude an unorthodox double play that spoiled a bases-loaded opportunity and kept the score tied at 2.
"He's a competitor," said La Russa, "there's no way he's not going to do that (and try to avoid getting tagged)."
Reynaldo Lopez took the loss (4-4) after recording only one out while giving up three hits. The first blow was a tiebreaking home run by Daz Cameron leading off the ninth for Detroit. Joe Jimenez (6-1) secured the win in relief, though the bulk of the Tigers' pitching credit belongs to starter Tyler Alexander.
Other than a first-inning home run by Luis Robert - a 430-foot smash into the left field stands that had an exit velocity of 118 mph - Sox batters were kept off-balance during Alexander's six innings. He gave up 4 hits overall and finished strong, striking out the side in the sixth - Yoan Moncada and Eloy Jimenez looking and Leury Garcia swinging.
The announced attendance of 30,722 fans did not get to see Jose Abreu aim for his third straight AL RBI title. His 117 ribbies were four fewer than Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez's league-leading tally.
Abreu wasn't feeling very well, and La Russa thought it would be best to rest him. "This is a day to refresh," the manager said, "and oddly enough he agrees."