Hope is lost

Nothing seems to be left in the tank, White Sox drop opener to Tigers, 5-3

After being swept by the Cleveland Guardians, the last two weeks of baseball on the South Side have little to no meaning. The White Sox seemed to take this to heart tonight, as they extended their losing streak to four games by dropping the first of a three-game set to Detroit, 5-3.

Lucas Giolito took the mound for the first time in seven days. He faced a similar lineup last week at Comerica Park, and his outing started out looking eerily similar. It took Gio 28 pitches to get through the first inning, which resulted in two runs for the Tigers.

Those runs were obtained after Lucas ran an 0-2 count full to leadoff batter Riley Greene, then walked him. Javy Báez continued to rake against Giolito, ripping a double to right field to put runners on second and third with nobody out. This set Miguel Cabrera up to ground out to score Greene. Baez scored the second run on a single from Eric Haase.

Johnathon Schoop wasted no time in the top of the second inning and hit a first-pitch solo home run into the left-field bullpen. The White Sox were in a 3-0 hole early.

Detroit had no problem getting traffic on the bases early, but it took the South Siders a couple of innings to get the car warmed up. Adam Engel and Elvis Andrus knocked a pair of singles in the third to get things going, and José Abreu came through with yet another two-out single to score Engel. AJ Pollock had a shot to get more with the bases loaded and two outs, but, alas, he grounded out to end the ally.

Andrew Vaughn has not had a great season in the outfield, but the lifelong first baseman would get his time to shine in the top of the fifth, robbing Baez of his 15th home run of the year with a grab off the top of the right-field wall. Instead, Lucas Giolito would tip his hat to Vaughn in thanks for helping his ERA.

AJ Pollock made up for his ground out in the third inning by tying the game up in the bottom of the sixth. The line drive over the right-center fence would give AJ his 14th of the year.

Lucas Giolito’s night was done after 90 pitches. He gave up three runs, walked one, and stuck out nine in his six innings of work.

The last two runs for Detroit were painful to watch. Akil Baddoo started the seventh with a single off of Reynaldo López. Yasmani Grandal made a throwing error while trying to catch Baddoo stealing second, and the ball deposited into center field pushed the runner to third. Baddoo would later score the go-ahead and eventual winning run on a sacrifice fly.

The last run of the night for the Tigers came after Jimmy Lambert walked Cabrera to lead off the eighth inning. Willi Castro came in to pinch-run. Detroit took advantage of the White Sox green light for running games, as Castro stole second and got to third on a wild pitch by Lambert. Castro would score on a ground-rule double by Spencer Torkelson.

The White Sox would load the bases in the bottom of the eighth but would fail to capitalize. Like a balloon with no air, the White Sox are deflated.