White Sox Deliver Huge Statement Against Tigers in AL Central Race

It's the biggest series of the season for the Chicago White Sox in Detroit, facing a Tigers team that came into the weekend with the best run differential in the American League.

Detroit has crawled back from having one of the worst records in baseball to holding a playoff spot. Before Friday night's game, the White Sox had seen their AL Central lead diminish to just 2.5 games. And even without Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize following the MLB trade deadline, Detroit was carrying a level of momentum in the division race that seemed difficult to stop.

The White Sox have answered the bell and kicked off the series in the best way possible, taking the first two games to clinch a series win and extend their division lead to 4.5 games. White Sox ace Sean Burke will be on the mound Sunday afternoon looking for a series sweep.

On Friday night, it was the bats leading the way for the White Sox. Chicago then threw a bullpen game on Saturday with Jose Urquidy serving as the bulk inning relief pitcher. Detroit had five runs before the end of the seventh inning, but the White Sox hit four home runs, including two from Miguel Vargas, and put up nine runs en route to a 9-5 victory.

On Saturday afternoon, it was the bullpen doing the dirty work. Anthony Kay didn't have his best stuff but managed to tough out 5.1 innings while allowing three earned runs, getting the game into the seventh in a 3-3 tie.

Andrew Benintendi came through with a clutch RBI single, and the combination of Jordan Hicks, Grant Taylor, and Bryan Hudson proceeded to cover 3.2 innings, allowing just one hit and striking out five batters to slam the door on a 4-3 win.

It's a big statement by the White Sox, a team that has led the AL Central since July 3 but has slowly started to slip back to the rest of the pack.

Now that things are heating up in mid-August and the postseason seems within reach, setting the tone against a team like the Tigers goes a long way. It brings Chicago's record to 64-58 on the season and, just as importantly, brings the season series with the Tigers to a 5-3 White Sox advantage.

The Sox will still have five games with Detroit the rest of the way, including Sunday afternoon's series finale and then a four-game series in Chicago from September 17-September 20. With five games to play in the 13-game season series, the White Sox are two wins away from securing the tiebreaker over the Tigers, which is essentially an extra game of cushion in the standings.

They're 5-3 against Detroit, 6-4 against Cleveland, and 4-3 against Minnesota, currently maintaining the advantage over every divisional opponent.

The White Sox can't afford to let up. Sunday's game is just as important as the other two were. But after a really disappointing series against the Cincinnati Reds, this team picked itself up off the mat and has delivered over the last two days, finding different ways to win each game. And with a possible sweep up for grabs and a 5.5-game lead over the Tigers, the White Sox send their best starting pitcher to the mound.