Dillon Dingler delivered the go-ahead single and Riley Greene followed with a two-run homer in a five-run eighth inning as the visiting Detroit Tigers stormed back from six runs down to beat the Chicago White Sox 11-8 on Friday.
The loss dropped Chicago (78-76) one game behind Cleveland (79-75) in the American League Central after the Guardians beat the Athletics 5-3 on Friday.
Detroit trailed 8-2 before scoring nine unanswered runs, capped by the eighth-inning explosion. Hao-Yu Lee tied the game with a two-run homer off Sean Newcomb (2-5). Three batters later, Dingler singled to right off Bryan Hudson to put the Tigers ahead. Greene followed with a blast to right field.
Lee went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs, and teammate Kevin McGonigle finished 2-for-5 with four RBIs.
The White Sox jumped on Tigers starter Andrew Sears for six runs in the first after Detroit struck for a run in the top of the inning. Chicago loaded the bases with two walks and an error before a wild pitch scored Tommy Pham. An error by Lee at third base brought home another run before Colson Montgomery ripped a three-run double to right field for a 5-1 lead.
Sears was replaced by Beau Brieske, and Miguel Vargas followed with an RBI double.
After McGonigle hit an RBI single in the top of the third, Vargas crushed his 32nd home run, a two-run shot in bottom of the third that pushed the lead to 8-2.
The Tigers (73-81) started chipping away in the fifth. McGonigle ripped a bases-clearing triple to deep right-center field to make it 8-5 before Lee’s RBI double in the sixth pulled Detroit within two.
Sears lasted just two-thirds of an inning, allowing one hit and six runs, none earned, while walking three. White Sox starter David Sandlin gave up five runs on seven hits over four-plus innings, walking one and striking out four.
Tigers reliever Drew Sommers (2-4) struck out five in two scoreless, hitless innings. Kenley Jansen worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his 21st save.
