López pitches into 9th, White Sox beat Tigers 7-1

Sep 28, 2019, 11:58 pm

CHICAGO -- Reynaldo Lopez tossed five-hit ball into the ninth inning, Eloy Jimenez and Danny Mendick homered and the Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 7-1 on Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader.

Jimenez, who began the season in the minors, has 31 homers on the season.

Miguel Cabrera homered for Detroit, which has lost four straight and has 113 defeats on the season, the second-most in franchise history.

Saturday's twinbill opener was a makeup of a game postponed on July 2. The teams were supposed to play a doubleheader on Friday, but both games were rained out. The second of those was canceled, so each team will play only 161 games.

Lopez (10-15) allowed one run on five hits with nine strikeouts. He was lifted after giving up a single to Victor Reyes leading off the ninth. Kelvin Herrera came on to get the final three outs.

Lopez was 0-3 with a 10.29 ERA in his previous three starts.

Matthew Boyd (9-12) allowed four runs (two earned) on six hits in four innings. He struck out four to finish with 238 for the season.

Cabrera put Detroit ahead with a solo shot in the first, his 11th of the season.

Chicago took the lead in the third with a pair of unearned runs. Yolmer Sanchez led off and reached on an error by second baseman Harold Castro. Adam Engel singled to put runners on first and second and Ryan Cordell followed with a single to drive in Sanchez. Engel scored two batters later on a passed ball.

The White Sox make it 4-1 in the fourth on an RBI double by Sanchez and a run-scoring single by Leury Garcia.

Mendick hit a two-run shot in the sixth off reliever Edwin Jackson. Jimenez homered leading off the seventh.

PROTECTING THE LEAD

Mendick started in place of regular shortstop Tim Anderson, who sat to guard his advantage in the race for the AL and major league batting title. Anderson is hitting .337. His closest pursuer, the Yankees' DJ LeMahieu, was batting .331 entering Saturday night's game at Texas.

TRAINER'S ROOM

White Sox: Jimenez started at DH. He sat out Wednesday and Thursday with an ear/throat infection.

UP NEXT

Tigers LHP Tyler Alexander (1-4, 4.99 ERA) faces White Sox RHP Ivan Nova (11-12, 4.80) in the second game of the doubleheader.

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