Detroit Tigers right-hander Michael Lorenzen, who allowed five runs in his last start but has been sharp throughout May, pitched one of the best performances of his nine-year career in the big leagues.
“I felt like I had a shot at something good,” Lorenzen said.
Romy Gonzalez, the No. 9 hitter for the Chicago White Sox, broke up Lorenzen’s perfect-game bid with a two-out single in the sixth inning. He hit a first-pitch slider back up the middle and into center field.
Lorenzen pitched brilliantly and received a standing ovation from the 24,685 fans, but the Tigers nearly wasted his brilliance — thanks to Andy Ibáñez’s throwing error — and needed a late-game push from the offense. A clutch rally in the seventh inning led to Saturday’s 7-3 win over the White Sox at Comerica Park.
“I don’t know why this sport gives you these opportunities,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said, “but I thought our guys did an incredible job of picking up their teammate and winning the game.”
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Trailing 3-2, the Tigers (24-26) faced right-handed reliever Joe Kelly, and with one out, leadoff hitter Zach McKinstry ripped a down-and-in changeup over the right-field wall for a game-tying home run.
McKinstry, acquired by the Tigers in a trade with the Chicago Cubs before Opening Day, has four homers and an .854 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in 43 games this season. The 28-year-old, based on his production, has been the best all-around player on the active roster.
“He erased that feeling of frustration after the previous half-inning,” Hinch said. “And then we just really did a good job of hitting a few mistakes and taking some pitches that were close to us. I thought we ran the bases extremely well and put a lot of pressure on every aspect.”
Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson followed McKinstry’s blast by hammering back-to-back doubles.
Greene hit Kelly’s sixth-pitch slider to center field with a 104.9 mph exit velocity, while Torkelson hit Kelly’s fifth-pitch sinker to center field with a 110 mph exit velocity. The double from Torkelson put the Tigers ahead, 4-3.
“We knew we had a lot of game left,” Torkelson said. “We knew we had at least nine more outs, so we weren’t worried whatsoever. Zach really set the tone, and then Greeney, I thought that ball was gone, and I was just looking for a good pitch to hit.”
After Torkelson advanced to third on a wild pitch, Eric Haase extended the Tigers’ lead to 5-3 with an ensuing RBI single. In the eighth inning, the Tigers jumped ahead 7-3 with a two-run home run from Zack Short. He swung at a fastball in a 3-0 count and hit the pitch 416 feet to left-center.
“That one felt good,” said Short, who went 1-for-2 with two walks. “I knew it was either a homer or an out, so I kind of just blacked out.”
The Tigers scored their first two runs in the second inning on Ibáñez’s single and McKinstry’s sacrifice fly. The Tigers finished 5-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
Starting out ahead
Through five perfect innings, Lorenzen fired first-pitch strikes to 14 of the 15 hitters he faced. In the sixth inning, he worked ahead in the count for his first out and battled from behind for his second out.
Gonzalez, though, spoiled Lorenzen’s chance at history on the first pitch of his plate appearance with a single. Tim Anderson, the next batter, grounded out on a first-pitch sinker to end the sixth inning.
“He was very dialed in,” Hinch said. “He was very good at keeping his adrenaline and emotions in check as the game was building. We all knew what was going on towards the fifth and sixth innings. You feel that dominance. The pitch count was pretty low. He didn’t let them ambush.”
Lorenzen allowed two runs (both unearned) on two hits and one walk with three strikeouts in 6⅔ innings. The 31-year-old has a 1.95 ERA with seven walks and 20 strikeouts over 32⅓ innings over his past five starts.
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Lorenzen returned to the mound for the seventh inning and put the first two runners on base: Andrew Benintendi walked and Yoan Moncada singled. He retired Andrew Vaughn for the first out, then won a 10-pitch battle against Yasmani Grandal for the second out to conclude his superb outing.
Grandal struck out swinging on an elevated four-seam fastball.
That’s when right-handed reliever Jason Foley entered with two outs in the seventh inning. A throwing error by Ibáñez, the second baseman, extended the inning and loaded the bases for the White Sox.
“We got a ground ball,” Hinch said. “We didn’t execute it.”
Gavin Sheets capitalized with a three-run double off Foley’s two-strike sinker at the top of the strike zone. Just like that, the White Sox took a 3-2 lead and Lorenzen had to settle for a no-decision.
Lorenzen wasn’t pleased that he left the game without finishing the seventh inning.
“Just being a competitor, you want to stay out there,” Lorenzen said. “I wanted to go deeper, but when you have guys like we have in the back end of the bullpen coming behind you, you feel pretty comfortable.”
“You find me a pitcher who hugs me on the mound or in the dugout,” Hinch said. “That’ll be a first in my career. I love the fact that these guys make me take the ball away from them. It needs to be that way for however long I’m managing.”
Closing it out
After Lorenzen and Foley, the Tigers covered the final two innings with left-hander Chasen Shreve and right-hander Will Vest. Shreve pitched a perfect eighth inning with one strikeout.
Vest worked around a one-out single from Vaughn.
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He struck out Moncada for the first out and ended the game by inducing a double play against Grandal.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.