Chicago — There is valor in the struggle. Casey Mize can take some pride in that because he labored mightily through his outing Thursday afternoon and still, when he left with two outs in the fifth, the Tigers were still in striking range. Which was no small accomplishment.
There is valor in the fight. The Tigers finally struck in the top of the seventh, erasing a 2-0 deficit and extending the game into extra innings.
There was, though, no victory.
After Spencer Torkelson flew out to warning track in right field to end the top of the 10th inning, the White Sox walked it off in the bottom of the 10th on a single by Tim Elko off Beau Brieske, scoring the free runner and beating the Tigers, 3-2, to split the four-game series.
“We were pretty sluggish today,” said manager AJ Hinch, who pulled every string he had available to him, to no avail. “That’s pretty much bottom line of how the day went.”
BOX SCORE: White Sox 3, Tigers 2 (10 innings)
The Tigers only burst of offense came in the seventh. After being blanked by White Sox righty Sean Burke, Wenceel Perez belted a solo homer off the top of the fence in right field with one out in the seventh.
“I think we had a good approach (against Burke),” said Perez, who also singled in the second but was thrown out at third with no outs trying to first to third on a single by Zach McKinstry. “I thought we made some pretty good contact but we were a little bit unlucky today. We had some good at-bats and hit some balls well and we got nothing.”
The Tigers put 21 balls in play against Burke with an average exit velocity of 91.2 mph. But they made a lot of quick outs and only had four hits before the seventh. It wasn’t the grind-it-out offensive approach we’ve seen from the Tigers all season.
“They did a good job of attacking (the strike zone),” Hinch said. “For every bit of Casey’s high workload, we didn’t make their guy throw a ton of pitches early and that allowed him to last deep into the game.”
Once Perez broke the seal, though, Hinch started pushing buttons. With McKinstry on first and two outs, he sent Colt Keith pinch-hit for Trey Sweeney and he impressively fought his way to a nine-pitch walk, fouling off three, 3-2 pitches.
Hinch then sent Dillon Dingler to pinch-hit for Jake Rogers and he dumped a ball inside the right-field line, scoring McKinstry with the tying run.
Keith ended up getting thrown out in a rundown between third and home. Two runners thrown out at third base in a one-run loss — tough.
Still, had it not been for Mize’s compete level, the deficit could’ve been far deeper than two runs. Which was of little consolation to Mize.
“Yeah, it could’ve been worse, but I still didn’t give them enough,” he said.
He couldn’t find the strike zone early. He walked two batters in each of the first two innings. He also gave up a single in the first inning and a double in the second. All that traffic cost him a bushel of extra pitches, but no runs.
“I’m just not moving consistently,” Mize said. “I’m not moving well and it led to bad command with everything. I wasn’t able to fill up the zone, which is unlike me.”
But he didn’t buckle.
After a rare first-inning mound visit from Chris Fetter, Mize got Joshua Palacios to pop to shallow left and Elko to ground out, stranding the bases loaded. Fetter had to visit again in the second after Mize walked Mike Tauchman and Chase Meidroth with two outs to load the bases.
He got Edgar Quero to fly out to center.
“It still wasn’t enough,” Mize said. “I know our bullpen has been working hard and I wanted to give us some length. Didn’t do that. It definitely could’ve been worse, for sure. But I wanted to give them more.”
The zeros on the scoreboard were good but the pitch count was at 64. And with the Tigers’ bullpen taxed from covering 13.1 innings the previous two nights, there was significant urgency on Mize to get through a few more innings.
He obliged. With the help of some early swings by the White Sox, Mize got through a clean third inning on six pitches.
He got through the fourth, too, though the White Sox scratched across two runs. Chase Meidroth, who was a constant thorn in the Tigers’ side, reaching base in 10 of his last 11 plate appearances, singled in the second run with a two-out, two-strike, emergency-hack single inside the bag at first base.
“That was about as heavy a workload as you can get and still be in the game,” Hinch said of Mize. “And he still struggled to find it. But he battled and got us as deep as he could and we were still in the game.”
Mize got two more outs in the fifth and was at 93 pitches when Hinch finally came and took the ball from him.
It’s the second straight short and messy start for Mize.
“We’re going to check it out, check some of the data we have and the video and see what the problems are,” he said. “Just moving a little weird and the ball is not coming out consistently. We’ve got to figure it out.”
The Tigers played stellar defense throughout the game, which also helped keep the game close. Second baseman Gleyber Torres saved Mize a run with a deft, sliding backhand pick of a ball on the shortstop side of second base.
They turned two double-plays that helped lefty Brant Hurter get six outs. Spencer Torkelson ended the sixth inning with a 3-6-3 double-play. And in the seventh, with runners at first and second with one out, Torres and shortstop Javier Báez turned a brilliant double-play on Andrew Benintendi, with Torres glove-flipping the ball to Báez.
Reliever Tommy Kahnle ended the ninth inning making a tough scoop of a throw by Báez to complete a 3-6-1 double-play.
The only thing missing from this one was a few clutch hits.
It happens.
The Tigers, at 41-23, still have the most wins in baseball and the best road record in the America League (20-15). They’ve also been on the road a ton. And this weekend’s three-game homestand against the Cubs will likely feel like an extension of a road trip, since they leave again for Baltimore Sunday night.
“We’re happy to go home,” Hinch said. “It’s going to be quick, just 72 hours. But we’ve got some things to clean up. We’ll reset and get home and play in front of some awesome crowds.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
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