Detroit Tigers pitch three position players, swept by Chicago White Sox in 13-0 loss

The Detroit Tigers are more than two months into the 2022 season.

They aren't getting any better. The offense remains a disaster, averaging 2.71 runs per game, and Chris Fetter's unexpectedly sturdy pitching staff is beginning to fall apart amid several injuries to the starting rotation.

"Our pitching was kind of the only thing keeping us afloat," catcher Eric Haase said. "But we've taxed those guys tremendously not being able to hit the baseball. We just need to play better."

The Tigers lost, 13-0, to the Chicago White Sox in Wednesday's series finale at Comerica Park, with a first-pitch temperature of 94 degrees. Swept in the three games, the Tigers (24-38) have dropped five of their past six contests.

Detroit has the third-worst record in the American League with 100 games remaining.

"We are accountable to the performance," manager A.J. Hinch said. "This is unacceptable. We are better than this. We have not lived up to the standard that we expect. What the solution is, it's something we talk about all the time. As long as the messaging is consistent with what we feel is right, that is where we're at right now. We're all accountable: the players, coaches, manager, front office, everybody. It's been below par."

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The White Sox hammered the Tigers for 13 runs on 21 hits and three walks with 11 strikeouts, finishing 8-for-22 with runners in scoring position. Chicago scored three runs with two outs in the first inning on a three-run home run from Yoan Moncada off rookie right-hander Alex Faedo.

After taking that lead, the White Sox continued to haunt the Tigers' pitching staff with a pair of runs in four consecutive innings, from the third through the sixth, for an 11-0 advantage.

"Faedo just battled himself and could not throw strikes," Hinch said. "When he did throw strikes, it was middle. They've got a very good offense when they get rolling. Once they got the lead, they got greedy in a good way. That's when you do when you're ahead. He didn't have it."

The Tigers' offense, meanwhile, posted four hits, zero walks and six strikeouts. The hits — all singles — belonged to Victor Reyes, Austin Meadows, Jonathan Schoop and Miguel Cabrera.

In the seventh inning, position player Harold Castro pitched for the Tigers. He faced the minimum three batters, thanks to a double play, and recorded the first strikeout of his career. In the eighth, position player Kody Clemens — the son of seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens — took the mound.

The White Sox scored one run off Clemens, who allowed a double, two singles and one walk. The Tigers turned to catcher Tucker Barnhart to pitch the ninth He conceded one run, making the deficit 13-0, but avoided further damage.

"The results are pretty obvious," Hinch said. "If you're not frustrated by today or even embarrassed that the game got out of hand to the point where we had to do what we had to do, this is baseball at its highest level, and we expect better."

Moncada and Jose Abreu combined to go 9-for-11 with seven RBIs, one walk and one strikeout. Josh Harrison had three hits. Three other White Sox — AJ Pollock, Andrew Vaughn and Seby Zavala — had two hits.

Faedo, in his eighth MLB start, failed to record an out in the fourth. He gave up seven runs on nine hits and one walk with five strikeouts, throwing 50 of 80 pitches for strikes.

The Tigers burned through three relievers — Jason Foley, Alex Lange and Joe Jimenez — before finishing the game with position players pitching. For the first time in franchise history, the Tigers used three position players to pitch in one game.

The last team to do so was the Chicago Cubs in April 2021.

"We take the embarrassing and make it fun," said shortstop Javier Báez, who didn't play Wednesday. "Position players pitching is fun, but the score is not fun. We take the good parts of the situation we're in, and we take the positive out of the negative."

White Sox starter Vince Velasquez, in his first start since returning from the injured list, pitched 2⅔ scoreless innings. He was replaced by Davis Martin, who completed the next five scoreless innings.

Jose Ruiz tossed a scoreless ninth for the White Sox.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers swept by White Sox, 13-0, as 3 position players mop up