Detroit Tigers sweep White Sox on Andy Ibáñez single, 3-2, for first 3-0 start since 2016

CHICAGO — Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch put Andy Ibáñez in a position to take advantage of his strengths.

Ibáñez, a right-handed hitter who is best against left-handed pitchers, entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Parker Meadows, a left-handed hitter, in the top of the ninth inning Sunday afternoon for a matchup with left-handed reliever Tim Hill.

It was the perfect platoon situation, and Ibáñez delivered the game-winning single.

The Tigers won a third straight one-run game against the Chicago White Sox, 3-2, to complete a three-game series sweep at Guaranteed Rate Field. The Tigers (3-0) have won three in a row to begin a season for the first time since 2016.

Right-hander Jack Flaherty — who signed a one-year, $14 million contract in the offseason — led the way for the Tigers in his first start. He allowed one run on four hits, without a walk, across six innings.

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Flaherty struck out seven batters, and his slider was dominant. He departed with a one-run lead, leaving the final 12 outs to the bullpen.

Left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin surrendered a tying home run to Paul DeJong, the second batter he faced, in the seventh inning, making it 2-2.

The score held until the ninth, when Ibáñez hit a single off Hill's inside sinker. He drove in pinch-runner Matt Vierling from second base.

After Ibáñez's big hit, left-handed reliever Tyler Holton struck out Gavin Sheets, a left-handed hitter, to begin the bottom of the ninth for his fourth strikeout against four batters. With one out, Hinch turned to right-handed reliever Jason Foley in a save situation.

Foley retired back-to-back batters to end the game.

Too aggressive

The Tigers, leading 2-1 at the time, squandered an opportunity in the sixth inning.

Gio Urshela hit a slow roller to DeJong at shortstop with two outs, which should've ended in an easy force out, but DeJong threw the ball away while trying to get the runner — veteran Mark Canha — advancing to second base. The ball rolled all the way into foul territory beyond the right-field line.

Right fielder Dominic Fletcher picked up the ball in foul territory, and at that moment, Canha was rounding third base at the request of third-base coach Joey Cora.

There was never a chance.

Canha, whose sprint speed ranked in the 63rd percentile last season, was thrown out without a play at the plate, ending the inning. Cora, known as an aggressive third-base coach, had been waving his arm — the signal for Canha to keep running — from the moment the ball got past second baseman Braden Shewmake.

The next batter, Javier Báez, hit a leadoff single off a slider in the seventh inning.

First start

Before the bullpen, Flaherty maintained a heavy fastball-slider mix to work his way through six innings. He left too many fastballs over the heart of the plate, including a first-pitch fastball that Korey Lee blasted for a solo home run in the third inning, but switched to a slider-heavy approach to get back on track.

The homer from Lee put the White Sox ahead, 1-0.

Flaherty notched his first strikeout in the first inning, when Luis Robert Jr. watched a two-strike slider below the strike zone. Home-plate umpire Dan Merzel called the pitch a strike, in part because of catcher Jake Rogers' pitch framing.

Rogers helped Flaherty take advantage of Merzel's low strike zone.

Flaherty threw 40 sliders and 32 fastballs for 82.8% of his 87 pitches. His fastball wasn't sharp, but his slider generated nine of his 13 whiffs and seven of his 16 called strikes.

Solo home runs

The Tigers did just enough against White Sox right-hander Erick Fedde, who spent last season pitching in Korea, to support Flaherty through six innings, hitting a pair of solo home runs.

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Rogers, who pummeled more than 20 home runs last season, got just enough of Fedde's full-count sweeper for his first homer of this season in the fifth inning. He hit the ball 348 feet with a 102.5 mph exit velocity.

It was the second of two solo homers.

Kerry Carpenter pulled Fedde's sweeper for a home run — his first homer since Aug. 21 last season, a stretch of 151 plate appearances — in the fourth inning.

The homers put the Tigers ahead, 2-1.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers sweep White Sox, start 3-0 for first time since 2016