'Hitting is contagious': Tigers rack up double-digit hits in complete win

CHICAGO -- The Tigers got their hits in bunches in a 5-2 win over the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on Friday night. Seven of the nine batters in the lineup got at least one hit, and as a group, the offense collected 10 base hits on the night, the pivotal ones coming in the seventh inning.

With the game tied 2-2 heading into the seventh inning, Parker Meadows drew a one-out walk that came after White Sox manager Grady Sizemore successfully challenged a call that Meadows had been hit by a pitch. Meadows ended up being the go-ahead run, thanks to back-to-back singles from Riley Greene and Matt Vierling. Greene later scored an insurance run on Colt Keith’s two-out single.

“I thought it was huge,” manager A.J. Hinch said of the Meadows at-bat. “Then he can create so much because he can go first to third and put pressure on those guys. He can score from second … things that his speed creates for us because of the good at-bats.”

The top-of-the-order combination of Greene and Vierling accounted for four of the Tigers’ double-digit hits, something that Hinch said was possible because nearly every bat in the lineup produced.

“Hitting is contagious. If you can get guys at the bottom of the order to produce as well, it definitely takes pressure off guys at the top of the order,” Vierling said. “So if you can get production from the bottom of the lineup, it gives you more opportunities. And if the upper part of the lineup gets more opportunities, it’s more guys on base, more pressure on the pitcher."

Vierling and Greene also teamed up for the first run of the game, hitting consecutive doubles in the first inning to give the Tigers an early 1-0 lead. And they added on, thanks to the bottom third of the lineup. The No. 7 and 9 hitters, Jace Jung and Dillon Dingler, teamed up for the Tigers’ second run of the game in the second inning when Jung led off with a double and Dingler singled him home.

“We’re happy with where we are anytime in the order,” Hinch said. “The way that this lineup is starting to lengthen out, it puts a little less pressure on the top of that order, and they can just be a part of the group.”

The production of the offense was supported by starter Keider Montero, who continued his development into a reliable part of the rotation. With his five two-run innings against the Sox, he extended his run of consecutive starts of at least five innings to 10 games.

The ability to do that has come in part from managing the rough patches, whether those are full outings or moments within a game. On Friday, he navigated multiple baserunners in the second, fourth and fifth innings.

“[Montero] bounces back very well, even within the outing,” Hinch said before the game. “He may have a rough outing or rough inning, [but] he comes back with a better inning. He's got a good mind, he's got a good heart. He's got good stuff.”

A key to that future is how well Montero develops his slider, a pitch that Hinch said the team is working with him on sharpening so hitters don’t see it as well.

“Part of it is the velocity. He tends to get into bigger and bigger breaking balls,” Hinch said. “The slower and bigger the breaking ball is, the longer the hitter can track it. So we’ve really talked [about] trying to tighten the slider up, trying to throw it a tick harder. That will complement his other pitches.”

After Montero left the game, the bullpen group of Sean Guenther, Will Vest, Shelby Miller, and Jason Foley combined to hold the Sox scoreless for four innings. They held Chicago to just three baserunners -- all singles -- from the sixth inning on. Foley’s 17th save of the season was aided by a pair of warning track catches and shortstop Ryan Kriedler’s diving catch of Nicky Lopez’s line drive to end the game.

The Tigers are 7-3 in their last 10 games and five games over .500 since the start of July. The AL Wild Card race might realistically be out of reach, but Detroit is poised to finish the season with their best winning percentage since 2016, when they went 86-75 and finished second in the AL Central division.

Their win on Friday put them three games within .500, and it showed the recipe for continued success: A lineup that produces top to bottom, quality starting pitching, solid defense and a shutdown bullpen.