CHICAGO -- In each of their three games against the Tigers this weekend, the White Sox played from behind. On Friday, they erased a three-run deficit and on Saturday negated a five-run hole. Sunday started similarly, with Detroit jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first thanks to Nicholas Castellanos' third home run in two days.
But none of these contests bore any victory for the White Sox, who allowed eighth-inning runs to Detroit on Friday and Saturday and couldn't catch the Tigers on Sunday, falling, 3-1, at Guaranteed Rate Field. The White Sox dropped their eighth game in nine tries against the Tigers this season, and have yet to beat Detroit in six games at home.
"We were one timely hit away from being in the game," White Sox starter James Shields said. "We had a few scoring opportunities, and they made some good pitches against us when we had runners in scoring position.
"Overall, it wasn't a very good series for us. We've been playing some really good baseball as of late, and we're going to try to go into Cleveland feeling positive."

Shields turned in another solid start, allowing three runs over six-plus innings while walking four and striking out five. Shields has now recorded 11 consecutive starts lasting at least six innings, his longest such streak since Sept. 27, 2015, to May 25, 2016.
"Early on in the season, we were ruining our bullpen by not going deep into games," Shields said. "My main focus is to go as deep as I possibly can. I had a lot more walks today than I really wanted to. I felt I could've gone deeper in the game if I would've minimized some walks. But consistency's the name of the game."
The White Sox lone run came in the second inning when Matt Davidson, whose father was in attendance for Father's Day and threw out a ceremonial first pitch, took Tigers starter Blaine Hardy deep. Davidson's homer was his first since May 13 against the Cubs, and 12th of the season.
"I didn't realize it was that long. It felt that long, though," Davidson said. "Home runs come in bunches, and I definitely lost a little step with that DL thing, and timing was off pretty bad for a week or so, but I'm feeling pretty comfortable back in the box and excited to start contributing with the team."
Chicago had chances to cut into the Tigers' lead in the six and seventh innings, putting two runners on base with two outs in each opportunity. But Adam Engel struck out in the sixth and Yolmer Sanchez grounded out in the seventh to end the threats.

"Matty comes up, hits a homer and puts us on the board. You think we're going to start to get going," manager Rick Renteria said. "We scattered nine hits throughout the game. Weren't able to bring any more of those points across the board."
SOUND SMART
Kevan Smith has been red-hot since receiving the call up from Triple-A Charlotte. Smith has hit in every game he's played, a nine-game stretch during which he's hitting .441 (15-for-34) with five multi-hit games.
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
The Tigers did not run well on the basepaths Sunday, and Shields helped start a nifty double play in the third inning that made Detroit's errors costly. With runners on second and third and nobody out, Jeimer Candelario grounded sharply back to Shields, who then got JaCoby Jones in a rundown between third and home. After Jones was tagged out by Smith, Smith threw to second base to nab Candelario trying to advance.

HE SAID IT
"The story was James. He kept us in the game, straight up. Did a fantastic job. You couldn't ask for anything else out of him as he continues to do [what he does well], which is continue to throw strikes, ground balls, get a lot of outs, eats up innings. We still used a few guys out of the 'pen, but shortened their outings as well. They did a nice job of not allowing any runs themselves." -- Renteria
UP NEXT
The White Sox travel to Cleveland for a three-game set against the American League Central-rival Indians beginning Monday at 6:10 p.m. CT. Chicago split a four-game series with the Indians last week at Guaranteed Rate Field. Dylan Covey (3-1, 2.29 ERA) gets the ball in the opener. Covey held the Indians in check during his last start, throwing seven innings of two-run ball while striking out five. Cleveland will counter with Trevor Bauer (5-5, 2.69), who struck out 12 in 7 2/3 innings in his last outing vs. the White Sox. Bauer is aiming to make it five consecutive starts with 10-plus strikeouts.