DETROIT -- The Tigers mounted a comeback in the ninth inning Wednesday against the White Sox at Comerica Park, but Jordan Zimmermann's mistakes in the middle innings were too much to overcome in a 6-5 loss.
Zimmermann entered play with a .325 batting average against on his second time through the order, and that's when the White Sox got to him. From the third inning on, White Sox hitters went 8-for-17 off Zimmermann, with two doubles and two home runs. Yolmer Sanchez opened the scoring with a line-drive single in the third, followed by an RBI single from Jose Abreu to give the White Sox a 2-0 lead.
The home runs came in the fourth and fifth innings. Matt Davidson hit a two-run shot to left field in the fourth for his 17th homer of the season. Abreu struck again the next inning with a two-run homer of his own, his 21st.

"When he misses, he misses up and over the plate, and the ball ends up traveling," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "More than anything else, that's it. He makes a bad pitch and it's not like they just get a single. They hit into the seats right now on him."
Zimmermann entered with relatively good home run numbers. His 14 home runs allowed ranked near the bottom of the Tigers' rotation. When home runs do afflict Zimmermann, though, they usually come in pairs. Wednesday marked the seventh time this season he's allowed multiple home runs in a game and the fifth time in the last six games.

This was a setback for Zimmermann, whose 1.42 ERA in August entering Wednesday was a significant improvement over what he produced in July, which got progressively worse and ended with a five-run showing over three innings against the Indians.
"At the end of the day, I have to keep the ball in the yard," Zimmermann said. "You keep the ball in the yard, you can give up a lot of base hits and still be fine."
Zimmermann's fastball was especially vulnerable. He got only two swinging strikes with it, and it was the pitch Davidson and Abreu both hit out. Wednesday was the third time this season Zimmermann has given up at least six runs while not lasting longer than five innings.

"I felt like [catcher] Grayson [Greiner] and I were hit-or-miss on our game plan a little bit today," Zimmermann said. "He hasn't really caught me a lot either, so it's just a matter of us getting on the same page and working more and more together."
The Tigers almost erased Zimmermann's faults in the ninth inning when they brought the winning run to the plate with one out, but the effort fell just short. Detroit had the bases loaded with one out when Michael Mahtook brought in a run with a fielder's choice groundout to make it 6-4. Greiner hit an RBI single to left to cut the deficit to 6-5, but Victor Reyes flied out to center field to end the game. The Tigers also had the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning of Tuesday's 6-3 loss.

A borderline pitch to Reyes was called strike two, but it could have been ball four, which would have loaded the bases for Jeimer Candelario. Statcast™ showed the pitch catching the upper half of the outside corner on the right-handed Reyes. Gardenhire declined to criticize the call.
"I thought the young man behind the plate [Jansen Visconti] did a really nice job today," Gardenhire said. "There's a lot of close pitches, and that's a hard job. I'm not gonna sit there and be on this guy."

Jose Iglesias plated Detroit's first run when he singled to center field to score Mahtook in the third. Nicholas Castellanos, after going 0-for-5 on Tuesday, followed with a two-run single to left field to raise his team-leading RBI total to 66.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Niko Goodrum has been struggling at the plate this month, and that didn't change Wednesday. With the Tigers trying to keep their big third inning going, Goodrum grounded into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. The ball came off the bat at 103.8 mph, according to Statcast™. Down three runs in the sixth, Goodrum again grounded into a 5-4-3 double play for the second and third outs. Wednesday was the 111th game of Goodrum's career, and it was the first time he's hit into multiple double plays.

YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
Mahtook and Mike Gerber have been splitting their reps in left field with JaCoby Jones on the 10-day disabled list. On Wednesday, Mahtook gave himself a boost with a leaping catch at the left-field foul wall to end the fourth inning.

HE SAID IT
"He's one of the better hitters in the league. I think he's really underrated and not getting enough talk because this guy can flat out hit. When you make a mistake, he kills it." -- Gardenhire, on Abreu

UP NEXT
The Tigers head to Minnesota for a four-game series with the Twins that begins with an 8:10 p.m. ET first pitch on Thursday. Francisco Liriano (3-7, 4.42 ERA) will be on the mound for Detroit. He hasn't had a start last longer than five innings since July 4. Veteran right-hander Ervin Santana (0-1, 6.53) will start for the Twins.