Tigers rally to give Pelfrey first victory

Chicago’s Sale fails again in bid for 10th win

DETROIT — When manager Brad Ausmus told Mike Pelfrey that he was finished after six innings, the Detroit pitcher resigned himself to yet another winless outing.

At the time, the Tigers were trailing Chris Sale and the Chicago White Sox by a run.

“I knew coming into the game that I was going to have to do a good job to give us a chance, especially against Chris,” Pelfrey said. “When Skip told me I was done after six, I figured that was probably the end of my shot.”

But with one out in the bottom of the inning, Victor Martinez singled and J.D. Martinez launched a long homer over the Chicago bullpen to give Pelfrey and the Tigers a lead, on their way to a 7-4 win.

Pelfrey wound up stopping an 18-start winless streak dating to Aug. 12.

“That was pretty exciting,” Pelfrey said. “I thought my luck was finally going to change.”

Pelfrey got to sit back and enjoy the show as the Tigers added another run in the seventh and three more in the eighth.

Mark Lowe gave up two runs in the ninth, but Francisco Rodriguez closed for his 16th save.

“That felt really good,” said Pelfrey (1-5), still wiping the remnants of a beer shower out of his eyes. “That’s my first one in Detroit, and the guys made sure to celebrate with me.”

White Sox left fielder Jason Coats, making his major league debut, exited in the seventh inning after colliding with center fielder J.B. Shuck. Coats needed five stitches in his mouth but passed concussion tests and was listed as day to day.

Making his 11th start for the Tigers, allowed two runs on five hits and three walks in six innings, striking out three.

“He’s been working on his breaking ball, and I thought he threw his curve more than he has all season,” Ausmus said. “He’s pitched well enough several times lately to get a win, but we got him the support tonight.”

Sale (9-2) failed again to become the majors’ first 10-game winner. He allowed four runs on nine hits in 6 1/3 innings.

“I felt fine, but I was just erratic with my command,” said Sale, who is 0-2 in his past three starts. “After the first inning, I was keeping the ball down, but I left one up to J.D., and it didn’t come back.”

Victor Martinez went 2-for-2 with a walk against Sale and is hitting .500 (18-for-36) against the Chicago ace in his career.

For Detroit’s annual Negro League Tribute game, the Tigers wore Detroit Stars jerseys while the White Sox were dressed as the Chicago American Giants.