121! White Sox fall to playoff-bound Tigers, set modern-era record for losses in season
DETROIT — The White Sox held it off for as long as they could.
But there is no stopping these red-hot Tigers.
After enjoying a three-game sweep of the struggling Angels at home to avoid history in front of their disgruntled home fans, the Sox went back to their losing ways Friday, falling for the 121st time to set a modern-day major league record on the third to last day of the season.
A 4-1 loss before a celebrating sellout crowd at Comerica Park clinched a playoff berth for the Tigers (86-74), who have won as many games (39) since the All-Star break as the Sox (39-121) have all season.
"It’s been an extremely difficult year for everybody," first baseman Gavin Sheets said. "It’s been hard mentally, hard physically. I feel bad for everybody in this room, to be a part of this. To see Detroit celebrating, that was us only four years ago, it’s frustrating. It doesn’t feel good."
The Sox had shared the loss record with the 1962 Mets since Sunday, and harboring hopes of sweeping the Tigers to avoid the mark sent their best pitcher to face the Tigers in hopes of extending their winning streak to four. Garrett Crochet, making his 32nd and final start in his first season as a starter, tossed four scoreless innings to do his part. The All-Star left-hander, who didn’t pitch more than four innings after June, struck out six, walked one and allowed three hits.
"No real emotions," Crochet said. "Obviously, it sucks. We put ourselves in this position early on. We had a bad April [6-24 in March and April]. We just never dug ourselves out of that hole. We are where we are because of the way we played, which sucks. But that’s just all it is."
Crochet’s replacement, left-hander Jared Shuster, walked three batters and was charged with a wild pitch in a two-run Tigers fifth. The Sox, meanwhile, mustered just three hits on a bullpen day for Detroit, one of them rookie outfielder Zach DeLoach's first career homer.
The Tigers of an AL Central division that got fat off the Sox' ineptitude, are 31-11 since Aug. 11.
"We like winning," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. "We're October-bound, just like our shirts say. I got to watch a team grown up in front of my eyes and now I get to watch them play in October.
The Sox, meanwhile, go into October done with baseball and standing alone as the losingest team in the modern era. Only the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who were 20-134, have lost more games.
DeLoach hit a solo shot against Brant Hurter in the sixth, to bring the Sox within 2-1. DeLoach doubled with one out and had a triple taken away when a fan interfered with the ball near the right-field foul line in the first, hurting a Sox scoring chance by 90 feet.
The Tigers got an extra 90 feet in the seventh when center fielder Dominic Fletcher misplayed Andy Ibanez' double against lefty Fraser Ellard into three bases. Riley Greene's RBI double and an Ellard wild pitch accounted for two more Tigers runs, making it 4-1.
The Sox committed two errors and allowed two runs on wild pitches, although one, by Ellard that didn't hit the dirt, could have been scored a passed ball on catcher Korey Lee.
Crochet, meanwhile finished with 209 strikeouts in 146 innings for an average of 12.9 strikeouts, which leads the majors. It's the ninth-highest ratio all-time by a starter with 100 innings or more.