DETROIT -- It’s just like any other series the White Sox have won.
Those words came from designated hitter Andrew Benintendi following a 4-3 victory over the Tigers on Saturday at Comerica Park. But beating their American League Central rival, on the road, can’t be like any other one, can it?
Detroit came into the home weekend as one of the hottest teams in the AL, positioned to really push the White Sox. The Tigers are now looking up at a 4 1/2-game deficit, while the White Sox hold a season-series edge of 5-3 and have improved to 22-13 against AL Central opponents.
So, these two hard-fought wins, where the White Sox have seemed predominantly in control, have to foster extra importance for a team having lost 100-plus games in each of the past three seasons. Well, that’s just not how the White Sox operate.
“I think our mindset in here is … I don’t even know,” said Benintendi with a broad smile. “It’s kind of crazy. We play 162. Wherever we end up, we end up. We are literally just focused day by day.”
Benintendi sounds like a veteran who has been there, done that before in terms of the postseason push. He understands how his 64-58 squad still has 40 games left to play and so much can happen over six weeks of Major League Baseball.
But if the White Sox perform as they did these past two games, they will be locking down their first division crown since the Tony La Russa-led 2021 squad. As the only team above .500 in the division, the White Sox clearly are the best of the group. Thinking that way is not the White Sox way.
“What’s been good about this year is this team. Just show up, play, go home, show up again the next day,” Benintendi said. “We really don’t put too much thought into everything else."
“That's great, we won a series,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “That's what we came here to do, is to win a series, and you can make a big deal of the fact that it's the Tigers. That's not really where we're at. We just want to go out and win every series, and obviously the guys got it done.”
On Friday, the White Sox got it done with two home runs from Miguel Vargas and one each from Munetaka Murakami and Tristan Peters. On Saturday, they came through with a plethora of scoring opportunities, putting the leadoff hitter on base in six of the first seven innings, and doing just enough to improve to 22-19 in one-run games despite finishing 4-for-18 with runners in scoring position.
Saturday’s game-winning hit came from Benintendi, who singled off the glove of shortstop Kevin McGonigle to score Randal Grichuk in the seventh. That came after the Tigers elected to intentionally walk Vargas with first base open against southpaw Drew Sommers (0-3).
Colson Montgomery’s two-out, two-run double on the ninth pitch of an at-bat against Troy Melton in the third gave the White Sox a 3-1 lead. Montgomery had been mired in a 16-for-95 slump since the All-Star break before winning this head-to-head battle.
Detroit tied the game off Anthony Kay, who allowed three runs over 5 1/3 innings with four strikeouts. But the bullpen trio of Jordan Hicks (2-1), Grant Taylor and Bryan Hudson (fifth save) yielded just one hit over 3 2/3 innings and struck out five.
When Spencer Torkelson lofted a routine fly ball to center fielder Brenton Doyle for the final out, it was time for a White Sox celebration. Right? Not on Aug. 15.
Hudson, who finished Saturday’s victory, pumped his fist before shaking hands with Jake Rogers, the one-time Detroit catcher who became the sixth White Sox backstop this season. It was then on to Sunday’s contest, with staff ace Sean Burke on the mound in the sweep scenario.
This group already has assured they won’t lose 100 games, but that’s only the smallest of beginnings. The same holds true for beating the Tigers.
“Honestly after that first month, we realized that wasn’t going to be the case this year,” Burke told MLB.com of blowing past the 100-loss potential. “Obviously, with what the fanbase has gone through the past couple of years, it’s good for them to see winning baseball. We are not done yet. We still have a lot more to go.”
“I’ve read some things where maybe we are too dumb to realize what we are doing right now,” said Benintendi, referring to the team’s youth. “We are just having fun showing up and playing.”