DETROIT — Playing uphill is not generally advised against a team as good as the White Sox, not really a recipe for success as the Tigers found out this weekend, losing two of three to the defending Central Division champs at Comerica Park.
The Chicagoans KO’d Tarik Skubal and beat the Tigers 10-1 on Sunday, taking two of three in the season-opening series at Comerica Park.
The White Sox, as they did in all three games, scored in their first at-bat.
Shortstop Tim Anderson, who sat out the first two games serving a suspension, ripped the first pitch of the game into left field for a double. He went to third on a single by Luis Robert and scored on a groundout by Jose Abreu.
Robert, who stole second and went to third on the same ground out, scored on a sacrifice fly by Eloy Jimenez.
Abreu doubled in a run and scored another in the third. Danny Mendick doubled in a run in the fourth.
Skubal, who gave up seven hits in his four innings, didn’t seem to have much life on his fastball (averaging under 94 mph) and the White Sox were hunting them. The average exit velocity on the 16 balls the White Sox put in play against him was 94 mph.
The Tigers didn’t play clean defense behind him, either. An RBI single by former Tiger Josh Harrison in the third deflected off third baseman Jeimer Candelario’s glove. Javy Baez’s throwing error in the fourth set up the White Sox fifth run.
The White Sox then proceeded to ruin the Major League debut of Tigers reliever Elvin Rodriguez. The right-hander who came to Detroit from the Angels in the Justin Upton trade before the 2018 season, retired the first six hitters he faced.
But in a four-run seventh, Rodriguez gave up a double to Anderson, who had three hits in his season opener, an RBI single to Jimenez and a three-run homer to Andrew Vaughn.
There was only one offensive highlight for the Tigers. Victor Reyes, in his first start of the season, worked a nine-pitch at-bat in the second inning and then launched a 400-foot triple to the wall in right-center field.
Miguel Cabrera, who had walked and was running on the two previous 3-2 pitches that Reyes fouled off, took off again and scored without a throw.
The Tigers had just two hits through eight innings. White Sox pitchers (starter Michael Kopech, Kyle Crick, Matt Foster and Kendall Graveman) between the second and seventh innings set down 16 straight hitters before Reyes drew a walk in the eighth.
