The Detroit Tigers’ Brett Callahan, right, beats a tag by the White Sox’s Miguel Vargas in the eighth inning on Thursday in Chicago. The safe call was overturned after a White Sox challenge. (AP photo)
CHICAGO — Munetaka Murakami hit his team-leading 32nd home run and the Chicago White Sox moved into a tie with idle Cleveland for first place in the AL Central with a 3-1 win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night.
Bryan Hudson (5-4), the second of four White Sox pitchers, got four outs for the win. Grant Taylor went the final 2 1/3 innings for his ninth save.
Chicago rebounded from a 6-3 loss at Cleveland on Wednesday that knocked them out of a share of first for the first time since July 4. Both the Guardians and White Sox are 78-75.
The White Sox are trying to become the first team in MLB history to make the postseason after losing 100-plus games in each of the previous two seasons.
Detroit fell to 72-81 and six games back of the division co-leaders, who currently would both make the playoffs as a division winner and the third and final wild card spot. Each of these teams has nine games remaining.
The Detroit Tigers’ Brett Callahan, right, beats a tag by the White Sox’s Miguel Vargas in the eighth inning on Thursday in Chicago. The safe call was overturned after a White Sox challenge. (AP photo)
The Detroit Tigers’ Brett Callahan, right, beats a tag by the White Sox’s Miguel Vargas in the eighth inning on Thursday in Chicago. The safe call was overturned after a White Sox challenge. (AP photo)
Gleyber Torres drove in the Tigers’ run in the third inning on a fielder’s choice.
Murakami’s three-run homer, a 423-foot three-run drive to center in the first, was just the Japanese rookie’s third in his last 28 games. He launched the first pitch he saw, a high sinker from Framber Valdez.
Murakami also had a triple and struck out twice and is batting .111 in his last 28 games.
White Sox starter Erick Fedde allowed one run on four hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out six, walked two and hit a batter before Hudson relieved.
Valdez (10-11) yielded three runs on three hits in five innings. He struck out eight and walked four.
With two outs in the fifth, Torres was held to a single on a drive to the base of the left-field wall on a quick retrieval by left fielder Randal Grichuk.
Dillon Dingler followed with a double and Hudson entered and struck out Riley Greene. Spencer Torkelson led off the sixth with a liner to the left field corner, but Grichuk threw him out at second.