DETROIT – For a make-up game on a Monday afternoon in the final week of the season with one team having already clinched the division title and the other out of the race completely, there was plenty of storylines going on at Comerica Park.
There was a pitcher hoping to make a case to have a spot in the team’s postseason rotation while a White Sox team was hoping to gather some momentum before the start of their playoffs in ten days. The road team took a big lead, the home team came back, then there was a dust-up that cleared the benches.
In the end, all was well for the White Sox, who got into Detroit and got out with a win in a game that was made up from last Wednesday.
A six-run lead was able to stand up for the White Sox in a 8-7 victory at Comerica Park, their 89th of the year, but it didn’t come without a big rally from the Tigers in the later innings.
That happened long after Dallas Keuchel was improved in what will likely be his final start of the 2021 regular season. He scattered seven hits in five innings, better than his 11 six days before in Detroit, and allowed just two earned runs to pick up his first win since August 16th. Whether the effort, which included two strikeouts and two walks, will be enough to earn him a potential spot in the ALDS rotation, is still to be seen.
It looked like the win would come easily in the fourth inning when the White Sox struck for six runs, including a Yasmani Grandal home to start it off which was followed by two-RBI hits by Cesar Hernandez and Zack Collins to make it 6-1. After the Tigers got a run in the fifth, Eloy Jimenez added a two-run homer in the seventh to make it 8-2.
But Detroit rallied for five runs in the bottom of the eighth off Mike Wright Jr. and Garrett Crochet to cut the lead to 8-7 before some fireworks erupted in the ninth.
After being hit by a pitch by Detroit reliever Alex Lange, Jose Abreu tried to take second base when the ball got away from catcher Eric Haase. He was thrown out and after Niko Goodrum applied the tag, Abreu took exception and began arguing his way. Both benches cleared but no punches were thrown, though White Sox bench coach Miguel Cairo was ejected.
Liam Hendriks finished it off in the ninth for his 37th save as the White Sox successfully got out of Detroit with a win on a bit of a wild day against the Tigers.