This one had everything. Randal Grichuk went yard off Tarik Skubal in the 1st — 420 feet, 102.2 mph — and it looked like the White Sox might actually have some life this season. Then Matt Vierling reminded everyone that Detroit is built different, answering with a 408-foot, 103.6 mph 2-run bomb that flipped the scoreboard to 2-1 Tigers.
Vierling's 2-run shot off the White Sox that put Detroit back on top.
The game stayed tight. By the 5th it was knotted at 2, and things got spicy when White Sox pitcher Mike Vasil and Skubal got into it at the dugout rail — a lot of words exchanged, which is honestly the most action Chicago's had all year. But the real gut-punch came in the 6th, when Junior Perez — a guy making his MLB debut — hit his first career home run off Skubal to put the Sox up 3-2. Full storybook stuff for him, brutal timing for Detroit.
Junior Perez's first career MLB home run, off Skubal, giving the White Sox a 3-2 6th-inning lead.
The Tigers didn't flinch. Kerry Carpenter came up in the same inning against Erick Fedde and dunked a bloop into shallow outfield — the kind of hit that falls where no one can get to it, scoring the go-ahead run to put Detroit up 4-3. It's the kind of hit that drives fans crazy but ends up in the box score the same as a missile.
Carpenter's go-ahead bloop hit drops in front of the diving White Sox outfielder, scoring the run that makes it 4-3 Detroit.
Then Kenley Jansen took the ball and that was that. Save number 484 for a future Hall of Famer — 484 times this man has been handed a lead and closed the door. The final line: White Sox 3, Tigers 4. Detroit keeps rolling, Chicago keeps searching for reasons to watch. Jansen just keeps stacking his Cooperstown résumé one save at a time.
Jansen on the mound finishing save #484, with the final line score showing Tigers 4, White Sox 3.