A nap would have been more productive

Sep 25, 2022 - 10:10 PM

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The Tigers completed the sweep of the White Sox on Sunday afternoon, 4-1. A strong outing by Dylan Cease and a solo home run by Yoán Moncada would not be enough for the South Siders.

Cease lowered his ERA to 2.06 over six innings of work. The pitcher struck out five, walked three, and gave up no runs in an outing that he was poised to take the win in. Instead, the offense fell flat and the bullpen conceded the lead. Dylan’s record remains at 14-7, as he received a no-decision for the start.

Tyler Alexander had a good day on the mound for the Tigers. He gave up only one run, a solo home run to Moncada in the bottom of the fourth. Riley Greene robbed Andrew Vaughn of a two-run home run in the same inning, to keep the damage to a minimum.

With the White Sox up 1-0 in the top of the fifth inning, Cease worked his way into and out of a bases-loaded jam. The Tigers came up empty-handed with the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the sixth inning as well. Harold Castro and Eric Haase lead off the inning with a pair of singles. This was followed by a Kerry Carpenter hit-by-pitch to load the bases. Johnathon Schoop grounded into a 6-2-3 double play. Jeimer Candelario would end the threat with a fly out to center. Dylan Cease would end his outing after 95 pitches.

The Tigers tied the game up in the top of the seventh after Ryan Kreidler singled off of Reynaldo López, then scored on a Victor Reyes double. The silver lining to the play was that Reyes got caught between second and third for the first out of the inning.

There was some excitement in the stands today that involved a boy and his rainbow cone: A young fan was enjoying his Sunday treat when it dropped to the ground. His parents did wipe the ice cream off, but Chuck Garfien had a better idea and visited him in the stands to bring him a brand-new cone. Seeing as there wasn’t much action on the field for the first half of the game, this story got quite a bit of air time.

The White Sox had a chance to score in the bottom of the seventh after both Gavin Sheets and Seby Zavala walked. Rather than pinch-hit for a struggling Romy González, Cairo let González hit — and he grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The go-ahead runs were scored off of Kendall Graveman in the top of the eighth inning. The defense failed to turn a double play on a Haase ground ball. The failed play started a domino effect that resulted in three runs for Detroit. A Schoop single scored Haase, a Candelario single scored Kerry Carpenter, and a wild pitch brought in Schoop. It was not Graveman’s day, and Aaron Bummer was tasked with the final out of the inning.

The White Sox attempted to get something going in both the eighth and ninth innings, but Adam Engel would be caught stealing in the eighth to end that rally, and Yasmani Grandal would ground into a force out to end the game.

With a White Sox loss today, the Cleveland Guardians have officially clinched the AL Central Division title. The White Sox, on the other hand lost all six games of their home stand, which hasn’t happened since 1989.

It’s on off-day Monday, the mental health break we all need, before the final road trip of the season takes the Sox to Minneapolis and San Diego.