White Sox stumble against Tribe
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago White Sox are close to losing sole possession of first place in the AL Central.
The White Sox gave Detroit an opening to tie for the division lead when Gordon Beckham hit into a game-ending forceout with the potential tying run on second base Tuesday in a 4-3 loss to the last-place Cleveland Indians.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. “(Detroit is) not going to go away. They’ll keep playing hard. All we can do now is hope Kansas City wins and if they don’t we’ll be tied with eight games to go.”
The White Sox have lost six of seven and have had trouble scoring without the long ball of late. Three solo homers were all the offense Chicago mustered Tuesday.
Down 4-0, the White Sox rallied when Pierzynski and Dayan Viciedo hit consecutive fifthinning home runs off Corey Kluber (2-4) and then pulled within a run when Paul Konerko homered off Chris Perez leading off the ninth.
“It’s just going to take some hits together that don’t go over the fence,” Beckham said. “If you string hits together, you usually score runs. It happens that a lot of ours go over the fence.”
Perez walked a pair of batters with two outs, and Beckham grounded to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who threw to second baseman Jason Kipnis for the force.
“Every day there’s close games,” Konerko said. “Today was obviously not a step in the right direction. It was a tough game. We showed some heart to battle back. At this point of the season, you need the victories.”
Chicago has held sole possession of the division lead since Sept. 3. Detroit hosted Kansas City on Tuesday night.
After Wednesday night’s series finale, the White Sox host a fourgame series against Tampa Bay and then close with three games in Cleveland.
Detroit finishes its our-game series against Kansas City on Thursday, then winds up with a pair of three-game series at Minnesota and the Royals.
Francisco Liriano (612) allowed all four runs and seven hits in 3 2-3 innings. He is 1-2 with a 6.30 ERA in his past seven appearances.
Kluber (2-4) gave up four hits in seven innings, retiring nine of his last 10 batters. Vinnie Pestano and Perez completed the six-hitter, with Perez gaining his 37th save in 41 chances.
“He grew a little as a pitcher today,” Indians manager Manny Acta said of Kluber. “That was a well-pitched ballgame, a crucial situation for (the White Sox).”
Russ Canzler had three hits and homered for the second straight game, putting Cleveland ahead in the second inning.
Canzler doubled between a pair of walks as the Indians loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, and Thomas Neal barely beat out a potential double-play grounder as Carlos Santana scored.
Upset by first base umpire Jerry Layne’s call, Pierzynski jumped up and down at home plate.
Ezequiel Carrera and Shin-Soo Choo followed with consecutive RBI singles that chased Liriano.
Tigers 2, Royals 0 DETROIT — Anibal Sanchez threw his first shutout in over a year, and the Detroit Tigers moved into a tie for first.
Sanchez (4-6) retired the first 11 hitters he faced and allowed only three hits. He struck out 10 and walked one.