With the early hole the White Sox dug, every setback on their climb back toward the top is magnified.
And Saturday night’s 4-2 loss to the Tigers was one of those, as they missed a chance to move within six games of the American League Central-leading Indians and to within 1 1/2 of the second-place Tigers.
“We have to keep battling,” said Gordon Beckham, who accounted for both Sox runs with a homer. “We have to win the series (Sunday).”
It was a heart-breaking loss for the Sox, who had battled Justin Verlander to a draw for eight innings, but Miguel Cabrera smacked a two-out, two-run homer to right field in the ninth for the difference.
The loser was Jess Crain, who had made 11 consecutive scoreless appearances. But he allowed an Austin Jackson leadoff triple before Cabrera homered with two outs.
“Crain threw the ball very good, he just hung a slider, made one mistake,” manager Ozzie Guillen said. “Cabrera is one of the best hitters in the game.”
The Sox had a chance to go ahead in the eighth with runners at first and third and one out, but Carlos Quentin was called out on strikes and A.J. Pierzynski grounded to Verlander.
“Every time we don’t get a big hit we lose,” Guillen said. “But the guy on mound (Verlander) is not an easy one.”
Verlander now has won seven straight games against the White Sox.
Sox starter Edwin Jackson pitched only six innings, the victim of a 124-pitch night. He allowed two runs in the first on Brennan Boesch’s homer and left runners all over the bases until retiring nine of the last 10 batters he faced.
“It wasn’t fun to watch,” Guillen said. “(But) when you look up on the scoreboard it was two runs, that’s all I care about.”
Jackson was kept in the game by some excellent defense, with second baseman Beckham ending the first on a nice stop, right fielder Brent Lillibridge ending the second with a running catch into the stands in foul territory and third baseman Brent Morel making an over-the-head catch near the stands in the sixth.
The White Sox didn’t have a hit off Verlander until the fourth inning, when Alexei Ramirez singled through the infield.
The next inning Verlander helped create his own problems as the Sox tied the game 2-2.
It started when Lillibridge lined a single back at Verlander, who at first couldn’t find the ball, then threw it into right field. Lillibridge wound up at third base and stayed there when Adam Dunn struck out for the 74th time.
But Beckham did what Dunn is paid to do, tying the game with his fifth homer of the season.
“I saw a good pitch to hit and it worked out for me,” Beckham said.
It was another bad night for Dunn and Alex Rios, whose averages are below .200. They were the focus of heavy booing from the 31,037 fans at U.S. Cellular Field as Dunn struck out three times to run his total to 75 and Rios bounced into two double plays.
“They’re working on it,” Guillen said. “As long as they don’t lose their confidence and believe in their abilities. It can’t be worse than it is right now.”
Twitter @davandyck
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