Haase prevents no-no, but can't stop sweep

DETROIT -- The last time the Tigers were no-hit in this city, first baseman Norm Cash brought a table leg from the home clubhouse at Tiger Stadium to the batter’s box in the ninth inning before being told he needed a bat. The way Nolan Ryan was pitching that day, he reportedly told plate umpire Ron Luciano, it didn’t matter.

Eric Haase didn’t take apart any furniture from Comerica Park before he stepped on deck in the seventh inning of Sunday’s 4-1 loss to the White Sox. But the way Carlos Rodón had his slider darting to go with a fastball approaching triple digits, Haase’s frustration was evident.

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“You always have to respect that fastball when he’s throwing it in triple digits,” Haase said. “But for him to land secondary pitches and go below the zone with two strikes, it makes it really tough to kind of pick one and go.”

It’s the same combination that Rodón deployed to hold the Tigers to two hits and one run over six innings with 12 strikeouts in their last meeting on April 29 in Chicago.

“Probably as good of a left-handed starting pitcher as we’ve seen all year,” manager A.J. Hinch said.

Detroit hasn’t been held hitless in a game since Henderson Alvarez tossed a no-hitter for the Marlins on the final day of the 2012 season. The Tigers haven’t been no-hit in Detroit since Ryan blanked them at Tiger Stadium on July 15, 1973. But for six-plus innings Sunday, they looked poised to become Rodón’s second no-hit victim this year. He wasn’t quite as nasty as the Ryan Express, but he wasn’t far off. Not only did he hold the Tigers hitless for 6 1/3 innings, Detroit barely had solid contact off him.

Once Haase fell into an 0-2 hole in the seventh, he looked like little more than a speed bump on Rodón’s path to history. But he turned in the at-bat of the game, ending in Detroit’s lone hit of the afternoon.

Opponents entered the day batting .044 (3-for-68) off Rodón’s slider this season, the lowest average allowed on any single pitch against a Major League pitcher this year. The Tigers came into the matchup batting .192 off sliders, eighth-lowest in the Majors.

The Tigers swung and missed at six sliders, three for strikeouts, and took five more for called strikes. Miguel Cabrera took one on the outside edge for a called third strike to begin the seventh inning, Rodón’s ninth strikeout of the afternoon.

Up followed Haase, who popped out in the second inning and took a slider at the bottom of the zone for a called strikeout to end the fourth. Rodón pounded him with sliders after putting him in an 0-2 hole.

The 0-2 slider barely missed the outside corner. The 1-2 slider sat just up. A 2-2 slider was right around the inside corner, an area plate umpire Pat Hoberg had been calling in spots, but instead was called a ball, running the count full.

“It was a tough take,” Haase said. “He got a couple calls that I thought might have been a touch off the edge early in the AB. It was a bigger moment than it should’ve been. But at the same time, I was just up there trying to battle.”

After Haase fouled off another slider, that fastball he had feared came in at 100 mph, but he fouled it off to keep the at-bat alive. Rodón went back to the slider for the eighth pitch of the at-bat, but left it up just enough for Haase to pull for a line drive off the left-field fence. It was the first extra-base hit off Rodón’s slider this year.

“He finally threw something over the plate,” Haase said. “Even then, it was kind of a one-hand, hit-it-where-they-aren’t kind of deal. I’m obviously happy that it fell, but he was on point today.”

The Tigers are used to low-scoring battles and late rallies. But with their pitching staff depleted, they struggled to stay in the duel. Kyle Funkhouser stepped in from the bullpen to toss 2 2/3 scoreless innings in his first Major League start, but the White Sox scored twice off Tyler Alexander. They added two more off Buck Farmer, who hit one batter with the bases loaded and walked another in his return from Triple-A Toledo.

The loss completed the first three-game series sweep for the White Sox in Detroit since April 2008, but continued their recent dominance. The Tigers have lost eight of 10 to the White Sox this year, and 17 of 20 since the start of last season.