White Sox at Tigers (Game 2)
The Chicago White Sox entered Monday having lost eight of the last nine division games, making this week a good time to face the Detroit Tigers. The White Sox hope to extend the misery of the Tigers a bit longer when the American League Central rivals clash in a day-night doubleheader Tuesday in Detroit.
Prior to Monday's 7-4 victory, Chicago lost to Detroit right before the All-Star break and dropped seven of eight against fellow Central rivals Minnesota and Kansas City, contributing to the club's dismal 4-16 start to the second half. The White Sox finally found their footing by taking two of three in Philadelphia over the weekend and continued their mini-surge in the opener while getting at least one hit from all nine starters to improve to 6-3 against the Tigers in 2019. Detroit (32-76) managed 11 hits Monday - including a solo home run from JaCoby Jones - but it wasn’t enough to avoid falling to 4-30 in its last 34 home contests. The Tigers are 4-19 since the All-Star break and could threaten the 2003 club for the worst record in the team's 119-year history (43-119) if they can't turn their fortunes around over the final two months of the season.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, NBCS Chicago, FS Detroit
PITCHING MATCHUP: White Sox LH Hector Santiago (1-0, 6.75 ERA) vs. Tigers RH Drew VerHagen (1-2, 11.66)
Santiago is back for his third stint with the White Sox after signing a minor-league contract with the team on June 20. The 31-year-old made eight relief appearances with the New York Mets prior to electing for free agency, logging no more than two innings in any outing while allowing at least one run in five of them. Santiago, who finished 6-3 with a 4.41 ERA in 49 games (seven starts) with the White Sox last season, is 5-6, 3.24 in 27 career appearances (13 starts) versus the Tigers.
VerHagen is still seeking his first career win as a member of the rotation after falling to 0-5 with a 9.35 ERA in six career starts following Tuesday's loss at the Los Angeles Angels. The Vanderbilt product gave up four runs (three earned) on 10 hits in 4 2/3 frames after he was roughed up for seven runs (six earned) across four innings five days earlier in Seattle. VerHagen owns a 1.17 ERA over 14 career relief appearances versus the White Sox and earned his only win of the season against them April 18.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Tigers are averaging a majors-worst 3.60 runs per game and the White Sox rank 28th at 4.15.
2. Detroit finished 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position in the opener, lowering the team's batting average to a majors-worst .186 in such situations since the All-Star break.
3. Chicago SS Tim Anderson went 3-for-5 on Monday and is batting .348 during a five-game hitting streak to begin August.