The Tigers needed just two home runs and a lot of rain to finish off the White Sox 2-1 in 6 1/2 innings Thursday night at U.S. Cellular Field.
Ian Kinsler and Miguel Cabrera homered off Sox right-hander James Shields to give the Tigers the lead in the fifth inning, and they held it through the top of the seventh, just as a storm rolled in over the South Side.
As the Sox’s No. 9, 1 and 2 hitters were due up to bat in the bottom of the inning, the rain delayed the game 2 hours, 5 minutes before the umpires called it. The loss dropped the Sox to 1-6 to open the second half.
Sox right fielder Adam Eaton said he wanted to wait out the storm and finish the game.
“It’s a difficult stretch for us, but you have to be a professional and move on,” Eaton said. “Nobody is going to help us but ourselves. We found another way to lose a ballgame today in a little bit different scenario. I don’t really agree with it. I want to stay here until we finish the game. It’s three innings. What’s three innings? But not my call.”
In six official innings, Shields yielded the two runs on seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
Shields worked out of jams in the first and third innings, striking out Nick Castellanos with two runners on in the first and the bases loaded in the third to end the innings.
“Any time a game is called because of rain, it’s tough,” Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “He pitched a good game. He looked sharp. Any time he got behind, he was able to locate.”
Shields said he thought they should have waited the rain out, especially considering it was a division game.
He has gone 2-3 with a 2.09 ERA in his last five starts.
“Sometimes doing your job isn’t going to get the job done,” Shields said. “I made a pretty decent pitch to Kinsler. He put a good swing on it, got it up in the air. The one thing to Miguel Cabrera is the one I’m not really happy about just because I was throwing my changeup down in the zone all day pretty effectively and left that one up.”
Tim Anderson bounced an RBI single over Cabrera at first base to give the Sox an early lead. Anderson’s hit in the third off Tigers right-hander Mike Pelfrey drove in Eaton, who doubled.
The Sox stranded the bases loaded in the sixth when J.B. Shuck grounded out softly to first base, and they left seven on base over the six innings.
“You knew (the rain) was coming, but you didn’t know the timing of it,” Ventura said. “That part is unfortunate, to give it up right then. We had a chance to score and couldn’t cash it in. … You always have to tip your cap to the other pitcher. I feel that, but we’ve been struggling. That’s not a secret.”
Sox second baseman Brett Lawrie exited with left hamstring tightness after the third. Ventura said he is day to day.
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