White Sox 11, Tigers 4
DETROIT -- Adam Dunn's tiebreaking two-run home run off All-Star Justin Verlander in the eighth inning plus a pair of Dayan Viciedo home runs worth four scores Tuesday night and the outstanding pitching of starter Jose Quintana sparked the Chicago White Sox to an 11-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers in the first of 19 meetings between the teams this season.
More than three months of the season elapsed before the first meeting of the AL Central Division rivals due to the complexities of scheduling.
The score was tied, 1-1, through seven innings until the last-place White Sox exploded for seven runs in the eighth that may have served the first-place Tigers notice that this will be a different season from the previous two, in which Detroit went a combined 26-11 against Chicago.
Alex Rios singled, the third of his franchise record-equaling six hits, to lead off the eighth against Verlander (9-6) and Dunn cranked a 3-2 fastball on a low liner into the right-field seats to give Chicago its first lead of the game. Jeff Keppinger and Conor Gillaspie chased Verlander with singles and Viciedo greeted Al Alburquerque with a first-pitch home run to make it 6-1.
Rios' second single of the inning was the third in a row with two outs off Alburquerque and reliever Phil Coke gave up an RBI single to Dunn to finish the seven-run inning. Alexei Ramirez, Rios and Jeff Keppinger added RBI singles off Evan Reed in the ninth.
Rios was the fifth player in White Sox history to get six hits in a game.
Quintana, who made all six of his June starts without getting a decision plus his first one in July, restricted Detroit to four hits over the first seven innings before giving up a two-out single to Torii Hunter and then All-Star Miguel Cabrera's 29th home run of the year. Quintana is 4-2. Cabrera has more home runs before the All-Star Game than any Detroit player has ever had.
Simon Castro pitched the ninth for Chicago and gave up a two-out home run to Don Kelly, his fourth.
Verlander's string of 12 scoreless innings spanning two starts came to an end with two outs in the sixth when Viciedo stroked his sixth home run of the season. It came on a 3-1 fastball.
The previous run allowed by Verlander was also a solo home run, in the eighth inning of a June 29 start at Tampa Bay.
Detroit handed Verlander a 1-0 lead in the fifth on a solo home run by Matt Tuiasosopo. It was Tuiasosopo's fifth home run of the year in just 75 at-bats. He was in his second game off the disabled list.
NOTES: Chicago 2B Gordon Beckham returned to the eighth spot in manager Robin Ventura's batting order after a two-game tryout at hitting second. "We're just moving guys around," Ventura said. Beckham hit .404 in his previous 14 games. SS Alexei Ramirez was returned to the No. 2 spot. ... Detroit 2B Omar Infante was placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to July 4. The Tigers called up 2B Hernan Perez from Double-A Erie, and he was in the starting lineup. Infante suffered a left shin contusion plus a severe left ankle sprain when he was on the receiving end of a hard slide by Toronto CF Colby Rasmus, who was breaking up a double play. Perez was hitting .300 with four home runs and 35 RBIs in 85 games for Erie. ... White Sox RHP Jake Peavy (left rib fracture) threw 76 pitches Tuesday at Comerica Park in four simulated innings, and he has a rehab start scheduled for Sunday with Double-A Birmingham. ... Tigers 3B Miguel Cabrera opted out of the Home Run Derby held in conjunction with the All-Star Game in New York to give his sore back a day off.
