Pelfrey, offense deliver
Long day ends with Sox halting skid
Three times in the span of a half- inning Friday night White Sox right- hander Mike Pelfrey found himself in trouble, and on all three occasions he pitched his way out of it.
A third- inning, three- run double by Avisail Garcia staked Pelfrey to a two- run lead against the Tigers. But a Tyler Saladino throwing error and a Pelfrey walk backed the Sox against the wall in the fourth.
Just as it appeared the Tigers were about to erase the deficit, Pelfrey escaped danger.
It proved to be just what Pelfrey and the Sox needed.
Pelfrey struck out a season- high seven hitters, Garcia and Jose Abreu had three hits and Matt Davidson homered as the Sox ended a three- game skid with a 8- 2 win over the Tigers, which concluded a long, rainsoaked day at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The game, which was delayed 1 hour, 25 minutes by rain, began more than 4 ½ hours after Game 1 of a double-hader was postponed until Saturday. The Sox and Tigers will again attempt to play a pair of games Saturday, weather permitting.
Yet for all of the waiting, Pelfrey’s performance was worth sticking around for.
Pelfrey ( 2- 4) escaped the fourth inning when the Tigers put runners on second and third base with nobody out.
Outside of allowing a fifthinning solo home run to former Sox catcher Alex Avila that got the Tigers to within 3- 2, Pelfrey was solid. He allowed four hits and walked one in five innings.
The Sox backed up Pelfrey’s efforts by scoring twice in the sixth inning on Davidson’s solo home run and on a Melky Cabrera’s RBI single.
Pelfrey’s solid outing came at a time when the pitching staff was riddled with injuries. After right- hander Dylan Covey was placed on the 10- day disabled list with a strained left oblique, the collection of sidelined Sox pitchers grew to six.
Tyler Danish, who was called up from Class AAA Charlotte, will make his first major- league start Saturday night against the Tigers.
The Sox remain uncertain who will take Covey’s start Monday, but manager Rick Renteria predicted the Sox would stay in- house.
Renteria hesitates to say when the pitching staff will be at full strength. So for now, he will patiently wait and hope that efforts like the one he got from Pelfrey is enough to see the Sox through.
“You’ve just got to keep plugging away,” Renteria said. “Hopefully, the guys that come in do what they need to do and everyone just keeps picking each other up.”