DETROIT -- Reese Olson took the mound for the first inning against the White Sox Sunday afternoon at Comerica Park with a 3.39 ERA but averaging just 2.21 runs of support per game, second only to Miami’s Trevor Rogers for lowest in the Majors. He started half of the eight shutouts Detroit has suffered this season, including a pair of 1-0 defeats.

When Olson took the mound for the third inning, he had a nine-run lead. It might have felt like walking on the moon, even though he treated it like his usual walk in the park.

“To put up the amount of runs we did early, it changes the day,” Olson said. “Everyone’s having fun. Everyone’s loose. I’m glad we could do that.”

Sunday’s 11-2 win over the White Sox became the latest example of Detroit’s mercurial offense. The Tigers had scored six runs over their previous six games -- their lowest-scoring six-game stretch since 2005 -- since scoring 13 runs in Houston last Saturday. They scored five runs within their first seven batters Sunday, matching their highest-scoring game behind Olson this season, and saddled White Sox rookie starter Jonathan Cannon with eight runs, five earned, on seven hits, including two-run homers from Colt Keith – who fell a triple shy of a cycle in his third four-hit game in five weeks -- and Akil Baddoo. Zach McKinstry added a seventh-inning solo homer off Chad Kuhl.

“Every day is a challenge,” manager A.J. Hinch said, “and you try to enjoy these.”

The Tigers have scored 77 runs in June, 42 of which have come in just four games.

“This lineup has a lot of talent. We’re capable of good things,” Keith said. “Today was really big for us, to be able to get those runs across. It was really good for us to fire on all cylinders today at really high levels, because I think it shows we can do it. It gets our confidence up going into next series.”

Just as important for Hinch was how they did it. A day after another White Sox rookie, Drew Thorpe, had flummoxed Tigers hitters with his changeup, Cannon had little to fool the Detroit nine. The Tigers’ 10 balls in play off Cannon averaged 94.3 miles per hour in exit velocity, topping his average 94.1 mph fastball velocity.

“Young kid coming off the best start of his career, and we wanted to attack his fastball and changeup. And then we go out and do it,” Hinch said. “There was just a lot of taking the game plan of what we were trying to do to the starting pitcher and go out and do it. It was well-executed, really top to bottom, but specifically the top half of the lineup. And then as the game goes on, guys at the bottom of the order started contributing, and that’s why we had a complete day.”

Keith hit a changeup out to left, one of three hits he posted to the opposite field. Baddoo turned on Cannon’s fastball and sent it deep to right.

“It was location today,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “It was all about pitches that were left out over the plate. They came out swinging.”

Once Riley Greene greeted reliever Jared Shuster with a three-run homer in the second inning, the Tigers had nine runs after 12 batters. It marked the Tigers’ highest output through two innings of a game since a nine-run outburst against the Royals on Sept. 20, 2018. It also marked Olson’s largest lead since another nine-run effort behind him last Sept. 2 -- also against the White Sox -- in an eventual 10-0 win.

Olson (2-8) did his part, shutting down the White Sox on two singles with nine ground-ball outs before back-to-back hits finally set up two runs in the seventh. His three strikeouts included one each on his fastball, slider and curve, all swinging. After leaning on his changeup in recent starts against lefty-heavy lineups, Olson let his slider do most of the work Sunday, comprising 37 of his 97 pitches, 10 of his 13 swinging strikes and six called strikes.The only difference he took with a big lead, he said, was pounding the strike zone and trying to finish off hitters sooner.

“Honestly, I approach the game the same way no matter what,” Olson said. “No matter if we’re winning or losing, I’m trying to go out there and compete, get outs as quick as I can.”