The Sports Xchange
Jun 3, 2017
DETROIT -- Alex Avila, Justin Upton, Nick Castellanos and Alex Presley each hit a home run and Jordan Zimmermann showed off his revamped slider Saturday to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 10-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
Zimmermann (5-4) has blamed his flat slider for his lackluster showing this season, but spent the time between starts during the week tinkering with his grip to get more bite back on the pitch.
It worked.
The veteran right-hander got four of his five strikeouts on sliders and otherwise used the pitch to keep White Sox batters from sitting on his fastball. He allowed one run, seven hits and walked two in six innings.
Chicago got its only run in the sixth on an RBI double to left by Todd Frazier -- off a slider.
Newly recalled lefty Daniel Stumpf faced his first two batters with Detroit and got one of them out in the seventh before being relieved by Shane Greene, who got five outs. Arcenio Leon worked the ninth.
Miguel Gonzalez (4-6), who retired the first 18 Tigers he faced in his previous start, saw his no-hit aspirations spoiled by the first batter in this outing. He was roughed up for 10 hits, including three home runs. Gonzalez didn't walk a batter but only had one strikeout.
Avila exceeded his home run total of last year with the White Sox when he belted his eighth of this season, an opposite-field shot to left in the fourth. The blast brought in Andrew Romine and finished a four-run frame that gave the Tigers a 6-0 lead.
Romine had singled in Jose Iglesias, who had singled in Presley after the center fielder singled with two out and stole second.
Castellanos hit his fifth home run, to left-center, with one out in the second to break a scoreless tie and Presley followed with his first, a shot deep to right.
Upton collected his 10th home run, a drive to left as the first batter faced in the eighth by White Sox right-hander Brad Goldberg in his major league debut. Goldberg also gave up a two-run double to Iglesias before retiring his first batter, after which he was relieved by Gregory Infante, who gave up an RBI single to pinch-hitter Dixon Machado.
Tigers manager Brad Ausmus was ejected with two out and two on in the first inning, seeming to object to the fact his attempt at challenging an out call at first base was deemed too late. Video also showed Ausmus wiping some of his spit off an umpire's shoulder during his arguing.
NOTES: The White Sox placed RHP Michael Ynoa (right hip flexor strain) on the 10-day disabled list prior to Saturday's game and brought up RHP Brad Goldberg from Triple-A Charlotte. ... Detroit brought LHP Daniel Stumpf up from Triple-A Toledo after optioning LHP Matt Boyd to the Mud Hens. ... The 12 extra-base hits Detroit drummed out against Chicago on Friday night were the Tigers' most ever in a nine-inning home game.