Chicago — First big-league start, first big-league hit, first big-league home run.
That all happened for rookie Andre Lipcius in the first inning Saturday, his two-run homer capping a four-run inning that sent the Tigers on their way to a 10-0 romp over the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.
It was the Tigers’ third straight win and improved their record within the Central Division to 27-15.
The Tigers kept scoring two-out runs against White Sox starter Mike Clevinger, the former Cleveland pitcher, who came in with a career record of 8-2 with a 1.63 ERA against Detroit.
This was not his night. Nor was it the White Sox’s night.
▶With two outs in the first, Spencer Torkelson singled and scored from first on a slicing double into the right field corner by Miguel Cabrera.
That was Cabrera’s 3,155th career hit, moving him past George Brett and into 17th place on baseball’s all-time hit list. There would be more.
Kerry Carpenter, who celebrated his 26th birthday with three hits, followed with a bloop single. Left fielder Andrew Benintendi didn’t go after the ball with much urgency, allowing Cabrera to score from second.
Lipcius, with his entire family in the stands to see his first start since he was called up on Thursday, hammered a hanging slider on a 1-2 count and lined it 399 feet over the wall in left-center.
BOX SCORE: Tigers 10, White Sox 0
▶With two outs in the second inning, Akil Baddoo singled and scored from first on a single by Zach McKinstry. The ball, hit to left-center, was played slowly by center fielder Oscar Colas and Baddoo was able to score from first without a throw to the plate.
McKinstry scored from first on a double by Torkelson. This time the White Sox made a strong relay home but McKinstry seemed to jar the ball out of catcher Korey Lee’s glove.
▶With two outs in the fourth inning, Torkelson lined an RBI double to score Baddoo, who had singled and stole second. A three-hit night for Torkelson. A three-hit night for Baddoo.
Cabrera followed with his second RBI knock, a single.
The Tigers ended up with 12 hits off Clevinger in four innings.
And they kept going.
Cabrera ended up with four hits and three RBIs. It was his 49th career four-hit game and his first since Sept. 8, 2021, against the Pirates. His career hit total is now 3,158. He’s within eight hits of Adrian Beltre for 16th place.
Cabrera’s 49 four-hit games ties Henry Aaron for the 21st most in Major League history. And his hits Saturday weren’t cheap. The exit velocity on the first three was 91.8, 101.5 and 102.7 mph.
Rookie right-hander Reese Olson was the beneficiary of all that offense. And he responded with one of his cleanest starts of the season. He blanked the White Sox over a career-best seven innings, allowing four singles.
Each runner was erased in a double-play.
He needed only 79 pitches to get through seven innings. Which was impressive given that he threw 100 pitches to get through 4.1 innings in his previous start.
Twitter (X): @cmccosky