Detroit Tigers drop slugfest to Chicago White Sox, 9-8, in ninth inning

Detroit Free Press

Everything went downhill when Detroit Tigers starter Spencer Turnbull left the game.

To make matters worse, Turnbull didn’t leave because of his pitch count, or because he got knocked around by the American League Central-leading Chicago White Sox. Instead, he was pulled after four innings because of right forearm tightness.

The White Sox scored five runs in the fifth inning, but the Tigers (23-34) countered with six runs in the seventh inning to take the lead. Still, Detroit was stunned in a 9-8 loss Friday at Guaranteed Rate Field on a walk-off single from Yermin Mercedes off Jose Cisnero in the bottom of the ninth inning.

“We gave our best effort,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “It was a hell of a game, and we lost. These guys will have to sleep fast, and we’ll be back at it again pretty early tomorrow. Emotionally, you got to be able to handle the good and bad. Tonight, there was a little bit of both. Proud of our fight, gave ourselves a chance.”

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The Tigers have lost 13 of their past 14 games against the White Sox.

“We’re overall a better team with our energy,” catcher Eric Haase said. “We never feel like we’re out of games. We know the White Sox are always going to be a thorn in our side. They’re going to be that team that doesn’t go away, that continues to put on pressure. I feel like we can be that exact same team.”

A wild ending

After Dallas Keuchel carried the White Sox through six innings, reliever Codi Heuer stumbled to allow the Tigers’ comeback. He walked Zack Short, allowed a double to Willi Castro and walked Derek Hill to load the bases with no outs in the seventh, leading White Sox manager Tony La Russa to replace him with Evan Marshall.

Robbie Grossman’s sacrifice fly pulled the Tigers to within four runs, and Jonathan Schoop crushed his second home run — a three-run blast — to cut his team’s deficit to 7-6. Schoop finished 4-for-4 with one double, two home runs, five RBIs and one walk.

Then, Haase punished Marshall’s fastball for a 427-foot two-run home run, giving the Tigers an 8-7 lead with two outs in the seventh.

“I just want to win, whether it’s behind the plate, at the plate,” Haase said. “Anytime I’m in the lineup, I’m doing everything that I can to win. To me, there’s no use in going out there if I’m not doing everything I can to win. I feel like that energy is getting pushed through the clubhouse. Everyone feels the same way.”

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Just as the Tigers responded in the top of the seventh, the White Sox evened the score in the bottom of the inning against reliever Rony Garcia. He lost the lead on Yasmani Grandal’s second solo home run.

Hinch said reliever Michael Fulmer, commonly used in late-inning situations, was not available because of fatigue. He pitched eight games between May 15-30 but hasn’t taken the mound since then.

“In the heart of that order, my two choices are Cisnero is the seventh or Garcia in the seventh,” Hinch said. “We had (Garcia) up when we were down, and I knew we were going to have to go through that part of the order again with Cisnero. How we were going to try to piece (together) the last nine outs once we got the lead was with those guys.”

Attacking the bullpen

With Turnbull unable to continue, the White Sox beat up the bullpen. They scored five runs in the fifth inning and forced the Tigers to use two relievers — righties Kyle Funkhouser and Joe Jimenez — to get three outs.

Funkhouser and Jimenez struggled with their command, but the defense didn’t help. The Tigers committed three errors in the fifth: Schoop (missed catch error) at first base, Haase (fielding error) at catcher and Castro (throwing error) at second base.

“Everyone’s trying to make plays,” Schoop said. “They don’t (make errors) on purpose. When things go like that, we just got to calm down. We answered with our offense with some runs to get back in the game. We’ve got to learn from it and try not to do it again.”

Against Funkhouser, the White Sox scored five runs (two earned runs) on two hits and two walks. One of Funkhouser’s baserunners scored against Jimenez, who loaded the bases — for the second time in the inning — before Jake Lamb flied out to left field.

Jimenez walked two batters but escaped the bases-loaded jam. Funkhouser threw 16 of 28 pitches for strikes to get one out, while Jimenez fired 11 of 21 pitches for strikes to generate two outs. The White Sox tacked on their seventh run with a solo homer from Nick Madrigal off lefty reliever Tyler Alexander in the seventh inning.

Turnbull solid until injury

After launching one of the ChiSox’s three home runs against Casey Mize in Thursday’s series opener, which ended in a 4-1 loss for the Tigers, Grandal picked up where he left off with a home run to left-center field in the second inning.

Before the home run, Turnbull fell behind 3-0 in the count.

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But Turnbull was dialed in for his ninth start this season. The only other hit he allowed was an infield single by Madrigal on a tough play for Short at shortstop. He ranged to his left and bobbled the ball near the middle of the infield.

Turnbull battled with Mercedes for 12 pitches — including eight foul balls — before striking him out with a 3-2 fastball to complete the fourth inning. Upon returning to the dugout, Turnbull chatted with athletic training Doug Teter. He did not return for the fifth inning after throwing 56 pitches (39 strikes), giving up one run on two hits with four strikeouts.

“He came in and complained about a little bit of soreness (in his forearm),” Hinch said. “As soon as that happened, we talked to him pretty quick and got him out of there. It’s muscle in nature, which is the good sign. The initial diagnosis is positive. … We’ll see. We got to get him evaluated.”

Schoop does damage

If it weren’t for Schoop, the Tigers would not have made the game interesting.

Keuchel gave up two runs (one earned) on five hits and one walk across six innings, with three strikeouts. Both of those runs came from Schoop, who is on a tear in his past 19 games, dating to May 15: 28-for-76 (.368) with seven homers and 18 RBIs.

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Schoop doubled in the third inning to score Grossman from first base. He added a solo home run in the sixth inning and a three-run homer — his ninth blast this season — in the seventh inning.

For his first home run, Schoop lined Keuchel’s two-seam fastball 364 feet to left field. The second home run came on Marshall’s changeup and traveled 379 feet to left-center field.

“We were pretty pumped up when we scored the runs,” Schoop said. “Marshall is a really good pitcher. We put up some good at-bats and scored a lot of runs. Everybody was screaming, everybody was hyped up. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a win.”

Castro went 3-for-3 with one double and one walk. In his past nine games, he is 11-for-27 (.407) with two home runs, nine RBIs, three walks and five strikeouts. Miguel Cabrera finished 1-for-5. His single in the seventh inning set up Haase for his two-run homer to center field, but he was robbed of extra bases on a flyout to White Sox center fielder Billy Hamilton in the ninth inning.

Jeimer Candelario’s 29-game on-base streak was snapped with an 0-for-5 performance.

Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzoldRead more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.

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