Detroit Tigers rally behind Jake Rogers' bat to beat White Sox, 4-2: Game thread recap
Detroit Tigers (60-74) vs Chicago White Sox (53-81)
When: 8:10 p.m. Friday.
Where: Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.
TV: Bally Sports Detroit.
Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1 in Detroit; Tigers radio affiliates).
Probable pitchers: Tigers LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (9-7, 3.21 ERA) vs. White Sox RHP Touki Toussaint (2-6, 4.85).
Tigers lineup:
1. 2B Zach McKinstry.
2. LF Riley Greene.
3. 3B Matt Vierling.
4. 1B Spencer Torkelson.
5. RF Kerry Carpenter.
6. DH Miguel Cabrera.
7. CF Parker Meadows.
8. C Jake Rogers.
9. SS Zack Short.
LHP Eduardo Rodriguez.
Who to follow: Evan Petzold, Free Press beat writer on Tigers.
Game notes: Eduardo Rodriguez has yet to rediscover the control that marked his first 11 starts of the season. Before going on the injured list with a ruptured tendon in his left hand in late May, E-Rod had a 2.13 ERA with 67 strikeouts in 67⅔ innings. But since his return on July 5, the veteran has a 4.68 ERA (though his strikeouts have remained consistent, with 49 in 50 innings).
Rodriguez’s final start before the injury came against these White Sox, who were already 11 games under .500 at the time. The lefty allowed just one run on five hits over six innings, with six strikeouts. Of those five hits, two went for extra bases — a home run by second baseman Romy Gonzalez, who was demoted to Triple-A in mid-June, and a double by Tim Anderson, whose batting average has plummeted from .268 in late May to .240 entering Friday. Anderson has been mostly punchless at the plate, but not in the field, unfortunately for his rep; he suffered arguably the biggest hit of the season when he took a fist to the chin in a brawl with the Cleveland Guardians that went viral in July.
To be fair, Anderson has been a Tiger-killer throughout his career, with a career .353/.391/.517 slash line in 102 games against Detroit. His 29 doubles against the Tigers since he entered the majors in 2016 are the fourth-most of any hitter over that span, behind only his fightmate José Ramirez (31), Whit Merrifield (35) and former White Sox teammate José Abreu (35).
After tonight’s opener, the Tigers and White Sox have two more matchups on the South Side, with a 7:10 p.m. start on Saturday and a 2:10 start Sunday. They’ll then split up for a few days — with the Tigers heading to New York for a three-game set against the Yankees beginning Tuesday and the ChiSox hitting Kansas City for three games vs. the Royals beginning Monday — before reuniting in Detroit for their final series of the season, beginning Friday night at Comerica Park.
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Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @theford. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers beat Chicago White Sox, 4-2: Game thread recap
