Detroit — It wasn’t looking great Sunday. The White Sox had again staged a huge rally in the seventh inning, and this time, their bullpen put up zeros in the seventh and eighth.
The feeling in the Tigers’ dugout, though, was resolve, not resigned.
“We never give up,” Akil Baddoo said. “We’re down in the bottom of the eighth and we’re looking at each other like, ‘Yo, we can come back.’ We rely on each other and we trust each other.”
The Tigers came back.
Riley Greene tripled and scored to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth and in the 10th inning, Eric Haase lofted a fly ball to center, scoring Spencer Torkelson. Tigers moved to within a game of .500 (25-26), and of the Central Division lead, beating the White Sox, 6-5 at Comerica Park.
“We’re going to try to enjoy this as much as we can, until we have to wipe the slate clean for tomorrow,” Haase said. “We’re just trying to play good baseball. This is the most fun we’ve had up here in the big leagues in a while.”
For the second day in a row, the Tigers staged their comeback against right-handed reliever Joe Kelly.
Down, 5-4, in the ninth inning, Greene lined a ball to the gap in right-center. Center fielder Luis Robert, Jr., tried to make a sliding stop of the ball, but it rolled past him. For a minute there, it looked like Greene might round third and head for home.
“No, the concern was getting to third,” manager AJ Hinch said. “To go all the way around, Akil Baddoo, maybe Matt Vierling could get around that fast. The key was getting to third with a chance to score without getting a hit.”
Javier Baez hit a ground ball to shortstop. Tim Anderson, playing in, might’ve had a play on Greene at the plate, but he bobbled the ball.
After Alex Lange emphatically stranded the Chicago free runner in the top of the 10th, Jonathan Scoop hit a long fly ball to right-center that advanced Torkelson to third, putting Haase in position to walk it off.
“Just trying to hit something to the middle of the field and give us a chance to score a run,” said Haase, who was 0-for-3 coming into that at-bat. “I just wanted to keep something off the ground. I got a slider over the plate that I could get up in the air.”
Baddoo’s fingerprints were all over this victory. His grand slam off nemesis Dylan Cease — not to mention six strong innings by lefty Eduardo Rodriguez — had the Tigers in position to win the series in regulation.
“He’s growing up,” Hinch said of Baddoo. “He’s being himself. He’s relaxed and he’s letting his athleticism show — which is nice. We’re letting him succeed. We’re letting him fail. And we’re letting him learn. And we’re letting him apply his talent, which is really beneficial for us and for him.”
Cease came into the game with a 10-1 record and a 1.72 ERA against the Tigers. But, he hadn’t faced this version of their offense before. The version, where the hitters stay in at-bats, work deeper counts, put balls in play and steal bases.
“Our at-bats early were phenomenal,” Hinch said. “Putting that kind of strain on him.”
Cease threw 102 pitches and lasted four innings. And he felt the cumulative effect of the pressure the Tigers were applying. They drew four walks off him. They loaded the bases in the second and third innings. Zack Short’s towering fly ball landed just a few feet short of the left field wall ending the second.
When Baddoo came up in the third, the Tigers had walked twice more and pulled off a double-steal, led by Zach McKinstry. There were two outs and the bases were loaded. The White Sox had used up three mound visits in the game. Cease’s frustration, if not his fatigue, was palpable.
“We were the beneficiaries of his tiring toward the end, throwing that many pitches in such a short period of time,” Hinch said. ”
Cease was at 77 pitches after he threw two 96-mph fastballs by Baddoo.
“It felt like he was spraying the ball,” Baddoo said. “Just had to be patient and pick my spot where I wanted the ball. That’s what I did. I got a good pitch, picked my spot and it was where I thought it was going to be.”
Cease reached back for 97 mph, trying to muscle his way out of the inning. Baddoo stayed right on the heater and poleaxed it, driving it several rows deep into the seats in right field. It was his second career grand slam.
“It was actually a well-executed pitch,” Baddoo said. “I just put a good swing on it. I was expecting something up in the zone.”
It seemed like that four-spot was going to hold up, but the inches went against the Tigers in the seventh.
The White Sox loaded the bases against reliever Will Vest. He walked the leadoff hitter, Clint Frazier, then gave up infield hits to Gavin Sheets (a ball off first baseman Torkelson’s glove) and Anderson (a ground ball Torkelson snared, but fell down and had no play).
Inches.
With the bases loaded and one out, Jose Cisnero was summoned from the bullpen. He jammed Eloy Jimenez with a 2-0 sinker. The pitch broke Jimenez’s bat, but he was able to flare the ball down the line in left for a two-run double.
The next two runs scored on close plays at the plate. Robert, Jr., rolled a ground ball to third, but Anderson beat McKinstry’s throw to the plate.
Andrew Vaughn followed with a shallow fly ball to left. Jimenez barely beat Baddoo’s throw.
Inches.
“It was close,” Baddoo said. “It kind of slipped out of my hand a little bit. I wish I could’ve put a little more on it. It was a bang-bang play. Those plays are going to come up again. I’m going to be ready for it.”
The White Sox might’ve had one more run had it not been for a bit of thievery by Greene in center. He raced back to the wall in center, crashed into the wall but still extended his glove over the wall to take a home run away from Jake Burger. Turned out to be a huge play in allowing the Tigers to extend the game.
“When he goes up for the ball like that, I’m always like, ‘Ah yeah, he’s gonna catch it,'” Baddoo said. “I just hope he doesn’t get a concussion. You know he’s hitting that wall so daggone hard. That’s just Riley being Riley. He’s Superman.”
Twitter: @cmccosky