White Sox stage ninth-inning rally to defeat Detroit on Labor Day

White Sox claim sole possession of third place in the division with a walk-off win over Detroit. This was the team’s first home win against the Tigers in 2018.

The Chicago White Sox have played much better baseball in the second half of this season and it continued on Monday afternoon. Trailing the Detroit Tigers 2-1 in the ninth inning, the Sox would stage a comeback to defeat their division rivals 4-2.

Daniel Palka would hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning. It was the 21st home run of his 2018 rookie season. After a single by Welington Castillo, Matt Davidson hit a two-run walk-off home run to give the Sox the win and sole possession of third place in the American League central division.

The Sox got a solid outing from Reynaldo Lopez but were unable to score more than one run off of Tigers starting pitcher Michael Fulmer. After a first-pitch leadoff home run hit by Nicky Delmonico in the first inning, the Sox would go scoreless until the ninth inning. Fulmer pitched 5.2 innings while recording five strikeouts and allowing four walks and just one hit. The 25-year-old would leave the game in the sixth inning after being hit on his leg by a line drive from Palka.

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Although the Sox only recorded one hit off of Fulmer, Lopez was able to keep the Tigers scoreless through six innings pitched. Lopez did give up a solo home run to Niko Goodrum in the seventh inning. He would finish the inning and the game with a strong outing. Lopez pitched seven innings while allowing just one earned run and recorded six strikeouts with no walks.

This was another strong start for Lopez who is looking to end the season strongly. In his previous start on Aug. 29 against the New York Yankees on the road, Lopez pitched seven innings and gave up one earned run to go along with recording six strikeouts. Lopez would not get the win on Monday but lowered his ERA to 4.37 on the season.

The Sox bullpen did its best to keep the team in the game as it was tied 1-1 after seven innings. Ian Hamilton pitched 1.1 scoreless innings and recorded two strikeouts. Jace Fry didn’t fare too well as he gave up a go-ahead home run to Victor Martinez with one out in the ninth inning. Fry would record the next two outs after the home run to give the Sox a chance to win the game.

With the win on Monday, the Sox improved to 56-82 this season. The Sox have a 23-20 record in the second half and haven’t lost a series since early August. They lost two out of three games to the Cleveland Indians in a series that ended on Aug. 12. The Sox will start Lucas Giolito in game two of their current series with the Tigers on Tuesday night.