The difference between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox in Sunday’s series finale came down to the results of their scoring opportunities: The White Sox capitalized by going 2-for-5 with runners in scoring position. The Tigers, meanwhile, finished 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, as the ChiSox handed the Tigers (24-35) a 3-0 loss.
It was the third defeat for the Tigers in the four-game series at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, and the 14th in their past 16 games against the White Sox, dating to last season.
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Chicago starter Dylan Cease posted seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and one walk. He struck out 10 batters and threw 67 of 99 pitches for strikes. The White Sox then went to their bullpen for two perfect innings from Aaron Bummer and Liam Hendriks in the eighth and ninth, respectively.
The Tigers finished with five hits, one walk and 14 strikeouts.
Big mistakes
The Tigers put runners in scoring position in the first, second, third, fifth and sixth innings. In the fourth, though, Cease struck out the side, getting Miguel Cabrera, Eric Haase and Nomar Mazara.
Jonathan Schoop doubled in the first, but Jeimer Candelario and Cabrera stranded him with consecutive outs. Haase opened the second with a double, advancing to third base on the first out, but he was left on the hot corner. Willi Castro struck out looking on an outside 3-2 fastball to end the second; he didn’t agree with home plate umpire Greg Gibson’s call, shaking his head on his way back to the dugout.
In the third inning, Akil Baddoo singled with one out, stole second when Schoop struck out swinging and moved up to third because of a throwing error by Chicago catcher Yasmani Grandal. But the next batter, Candelario, popped out to third base.
In the fifth, Derek Hill drew a two-out walk and stole second base. This time, Baddoo struck out swinging at a curveball in the dirt. The Tigers had another chance to score in the sixth, thanks to one-out singles from Candelario and Cabrera.
But Haase and Mazara struck out swinging. The top five batters in the Tigers’ lineup went 5-for-20, and the bottom four batters finished 0-for-12 with one walk.
Urena returns
Right-hander Jose Urena came off the injured list — he left his previous start in May with a right forearm strain — and pitched the Tigers through five innings. He allowed three runs on six hits and two walks, with one strikeout.
The White Sox scored all three runs against Urena in the second inning. Adam Eaton roped a one-out triple to the left-field corner. Baddoo made a sliding attempt at the catch, but he wasn’t able to come up with it.
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Instead of chasing after the ball, Baddoo waited to see if the umpire called it fair or foul. The rookie’s mistake allowed Eaton to turn a double into a triple. Then, Andrew Vaughn scored Eaton with a single to left for a 1-0 lead.
With two outs, Nick Madrigal doubled to left field, putting two runners in scoring position. Baddoo missed the cutoff man, allowing Madrigal to take second base. Tim Anderson then singled to center field, scoring Vaughn and Madrigal.
After the second inning, Urena was solid the rest of the way. He faced trouble with two outs in the fourth, as Madrigal and Anderson produced back-to-back singles. But he escaped by getting one of his seven ground-ball outs.
Urena pitched a perfect fifth inning to finish his 11th start this season, which was his first outing since leaving in the sixth inning May 26 against Cleveland. He threw 57 of his 87 pitches for strikes and generated three swings and misses.
Foley makes MLB debut
In a three-run game, Tigers manager AJ Hinch turned to Jason Foley for his MLB debut in the sixth inning. The 25-year-old didn’t make his first outing easy — hitting Adam Eaton with a two-seam fastball and Adam Engel with a slider.
But Foley’s sixth inning finished scoreless.
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Eaton and Engel were the only batters to reach against Foley. After Engel swiped second base, Anderson grounded out to first base to end the inning. On Foley’s seventh and final pitch to Anderson, he reached 99.5 mph with his two-seam fastball.
Foley tossed nine of 18 pitches for strikes.
In four minor-league seasons, Foleyhas logged a 3.32 ERA with 35 walks and 101 strikeouts over 97⅔ innings. He pitched nine games out of the bullpen for Triple-A Toledo this year before the Tigers called him up Sunday.
The Tigers got a perfect seventh inning from Daniel Norris and a perfect eighth inning from Bryan Garcia, in Garcia’s first outing since returning Saturday from Triple-A Toledo. He threw six of seven pitches for strikes.
Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.