DETROIT -- A little rain might have dampened Liam Hendriks’ mood on Friday night, but it sure didn’t stand in the way of the White Sox quest to command the AL Central.

A 49-minute rain delay in the bottom of the ninth inning meant plenty of time for Chicago’s prized closer to cool down after he’d warmed up. The two-run homer he allowed shortly after play resumed sent the game into extras and ended Hendriks’ scoreless-innings streak at 14.

Still, Hendriks quickly rang up the final two outs to get his team back up to bat. Was Friday’s performance indicative of what Hendriks can do? Hardly. But he -- and Aaron Bummer, who pitched the 10th to earn the save -- found a way to get the job done during Chicago’s 5-4 win at Comerica Park, providing perhaps the best example on a micro level of a team regularly making the best of what it has to work with.

• Box score

“We just pass the baton down,” Hendriks said. “Some of these days, it’s going to be flip-flopped … I’m going to get hurt by a pitch and [Bummer’s] going to go out there and pick me up, and vice-versa. It’s what we do.”

Here are three other examples:

The starter
Did Lucas Giolito have his best stuff on the hill early? No, but that didn’t stop him from gaining steam as he went, amassing nine strikeouts across six innings. Giolito walked just one, but he also allowed two solo home runs that kept the Tigers hopeful.

The righty’s offspeed stuff also improved as the night wore on. He allowed one fewer round-tripper than in his last start -- also against Detroit -- and he limited Friday’s damage to those two runs.

“The first couple innings were a little bit of a battle; I didn't feel completely in sync,” Giolito said. “But as the game went on, I felt like things were kind of syncing in place. I was getting my release point, and we had a really, really good mix going that we could rely on.”

The runners
After back-to-back one-out walks ended with both White Sox stranded in the first despite a throwing error that advanced the runners, Chicago cranked up the pressure.

Did it work? Yes and no.

The White Sox had some luck in the top of the sixth, when Tigers catcher Jake Rogers attempted to pick off Adam Engel from first but the throw skidded into right field, allowing Andrew Vaughn to score from third to put the White Sox up, 4-2. 

Engel reached second easily but took too big a turn in trying to draw the throw, hitting the brakes midway to third and winding up caught in a rundown that seemed as though everyone had a hand in on. While Engel was ultimately tagged out after several back-and-forths -- the official play was a 9-3-5-6-1-4 putout -- the aggressiveness still led to an insurance run.

The offense
Chicago collected eight hits but finished 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Was it the best it could do? Hardly. Was it more than enough to push back against the Tigers each time they showed life? Absolutely.

Among the highlights, Engel clubbed a home run on the first pitch of the second inning. Engel’s knock was so low in the air that left fielder Robbie Grossman turned around in an apparent attempt to field the carom off the wall, except the ball narrowly cleared the yellow piping on the fence to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.

After the Tigers homered to even the score in the bottom of the same frame, the White Sox countered with a run in the fourth and fifth innings to push their lead to 3-1.

Detroit countered with another homer in the fifth, but Chicago nipped any impending rally in the bud, re-extending its lead to two thanks to Engel’s zealous baserunning.

Had Engel not drawn out the error, the Tigers’ home run off Hendriks would have been a walk-off. As it was, the White Sox were able to counter one final time, scoring automatic runner Danny Mendick with the eventual game-winner on a Yoán Moncada sacrifice fly.

Did Friday night pan out the way the White Sox envisioned? Of course not. But it also gave Chicago one more chance to prove that injuries and circumstance will not take away from its performance.

“It got a little hairy there, but we'll take that 'W' for sure,” Giolito said. “It just kind of shows our grit, our tenacity; that’s what we’re all about here.”