DETROIT -- White Sox right-hander Reynaldo Lopez felt good physically and mentally as he prepared pregame for Monday's start against the Tigers in the series opener at Comerica Park. He felt completely focused.
But once he took the mound, the problem for Lopez was a complete lack of offspeed command during the White Sox 9-5 loss to the Tigers. Needless to say, it was a fairly significant problem.
"He didn't locate his breaking balls," White Sox catcher Omar Narvaez, who launched his fifth home run, said. "We were trying to [battle], but when you don't have a good feeling for anything, it's kind of hard to."

"They weren't effective today," said Lopez of his breaking pitches through interpreter Billy Russo. "Sometimes you have to compete with all that you have, and today for me was just the fastball. That's something you have to learn. Games like today, I wanted to at least complete five innings."
Lopez achieved his goal by completing five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out two and walking one. But Lopez didn't factor in the outcome.
Nicholas Castellanos certainly did. The Tigers' right fielder produced the first five-hit game of his career, finishing 5-for-5 with three extra-base hits and five RBIs. His two-run home run off of Jeanmar Gomez in the seventh gave the Tigers a 6-4 lead, and his two-run single off of Juan Minaya in the eighth gave the Tigers plenty of insurance.
With Jeimer Candelario on first and one out in the seventh, White Sox manager Rick Renteria actually thought about walking Castellanos but didn't want to move the go-ahead run into scoring position. Castellanos instead raised his season average to .419 against the White Sox, with four home runs and 14 RBIs.
"He's had a really good run against us since last season," said Renteria of Castellanos. "He's hitting mistakes; he's not missing them right now. He came into the series probably hitting like .250 over the last 10 or 15 days. We come into town and it seems like he comes to life.
"We misexecuted, to be honest. We had him in two-strike mode a couple of times."
The South Siders jumped out to a three-run lead in the third, knocked 11 hits and had a runner on base in every inning. But ultimately, the White Sox came up short in a 9-5 loss to the Tigers, dropping them to 34 games under .500 for the first time this season. The White Sox three-game road win streak also came to an end.
Adam Engel had two hits, including his fourth home run, giving him home runs in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. Daniel Palka added three hits and one RBI.

Even with that early 3-0 lead, the tone was set by Lopez's struggles with offspeed command.
"Lopez actually came out with good velocity," Renteria said. "He was trying to switch into using his changeup a little bit more. He was missing a lot of spots. Got into some deeper counts, got into a little trouble. I think I took him out at 90 pitches. I thought he had enough for the day."
"We know he has heart. And he showed that today," Narvaez said. "We tried to keep it going."
SOUND SMART
With Detroit reliever Victor Alcantara striking out the side in the ninth, the White Sox struck out at least 10 times for an eighth straight game.
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
Yoan Moncada got down the line in 3.60 seconds on his bunt single in the sixth, the fastest time for the White Sox this year per Statcast™. Moncada's sprint speed was 30.2 ft/sec, over the elite 30 ft/sec threshold.

HE SAID IT
"Hopefully it continues, and he feels comfortable enough that this will continue to boost his confidence and keep pushing him." -- Renteria on Engel, who has five hits and four extra-base hits in his last two games

UP NEXT
Lucas Giolito (7-9, 6.23 ERA) is scheduled to make his 24th start of 2018, 12th on the road and third against the Detroit Tigers with a 6:10 p.m. CT first pitch scheduled Tuesday. Giolito, who will be opposed by Blaine Hardy, is 2-1 with a 4.13 ERA and .216 opponents' average over his last five road starts.