Detroit Tigers Crush White Sox 18-2

This was a day when everybody in the lineup padded their stats. Andy Dirks came in as a defensive replacement after the game was already out of hand and had 4 RBI on two hits. Everything the Tigers hit tonight was falling in. They hit balls hard, they hit bloopers and nubbers, everything fell in safely for hits. The Tigers had a season-high 24 hits. Miguel Cabrera hit another long homer tonight, this one a 430 foot blast into the bushes in center. He also knocked in 4 runs. Victor Martinez had 3 hits, Ordonez had 2 hits, Austin Jackson had two more hits, Jhonny Peralta had 2 hits and 3 RBI, Alex Avila had 4 hits and Brandon Inge chipped in with 3 hits.
Max Scherzer finally got his 14th win with 7 shutout innings, despite having to sit down for more than 30 minutes twice while his teammates were scoring runs for him. The White Sox came into this 3-game series with Detroit 5.5 games out of first and were very much still in the hunt for the postseason. The Tigers swept the Sox in demoralizing fashion and Chicago now finds themselves 8.5 games back and pretty much out of contention.
The Tigers still have some unfinished business with Cleveland, who trail Detroit by 6.5 games. The Tigers open a three game series with the Indians tomorrow afternoon at Progressive Field in Cleveland. The Tigers have 22 games left on the schedule, 3 against Chicago and 6 remaining with Cleveland. The last three games of the regular season are against the Indians in Detroit. The Tigers can remove any doubt of their post-season worthiness by taking care of Cleveland in their own ballpark this week. Or, they can let the Tribe back into the race. Doug Fister starts for the Tigers tomorrow afternoon against Cleveland’s Ubaldo Jimenez. 1:05 pm first pitch. This is a big series for the Tigers and Indians, and should be fun to watch.