ALCS – Game # 3

10/11 - Comiskey Park
Tigers 3, White Sox 2
The Series headed to the Windy City for Game 3 all tied up at 1 game apiece.  The pitching matchup would feature two lefties that both teams expected a lot from at the beginning of the year.  Detroit would send Justin Thompson (4-4, 2.68) to the hill and Chicago would counter with Tommy John (3-5, 5.71).  On the surface the advantage lie clearly with the Tigers, but John has been pitching much better of late and looked to build on his LDS win over the Angels.  Detroit would jump out to a 2-0 lead with solo runs in both the second and fourth innings.  Deivi Cruz would homer with one out in the second and Luis Gonzalez would line an RBI single to score Higginson in the 4th.  Gonzalez'  single was the 3rd consecutive hit by the Tigers in the inning, which had John on the ropes and had the hometown faithful grumbling, "Same ole' John".  To his credit the embattled southpaw battled back and did not allow another run that inning even though he faced runners on 1st and 3rd with nobody out.  Chicago would do what they do best in the 7th inning...play small ball.  Catcher Jerry McNertney singled and moved to second on a passed ball.  John, himself not a good hitter, flared a single to right to put runners on the corners.  McNertney would then score on a 4-6 fielders choice on a Luis Aparicio grounder.  In the 8th Doug Brocail would blow Thompson's 2-1 lead by walking pinch hitter Duane Josephson with the bases loaded to force in Pete Ward who singled with 1 out while pinch hitting for Bill Melton.  With the game tied up at 2-2 Hoyt Wilhelm was called upon to pitch the 9th for Chicago and maintain the status quo.  Detroit had other ideas as evidenced by Luis Gonzalez lead off double.  Joe Randa would follow up with a sharply hit single that was hit so hard Gonzo had no chance to score from second.  With runners on the corners and the infield in pinch hitter Paul Bako hit a one hop bullet back to Wilhelm who fielded the ball cleanly.  Wilhelm looked to third to hold Gonzo, who was caught in no man's land as he broke on contact.  The veteran Wilhelm made an uncharacteristic mistake by throwing to third and not running straight at Gonzo, who broke for home on release.  By the time Pete Ward could throw to the plate Gonzo had slid in safely for the go ahead run making it 3-2 Detroit.  With no out and runners on 1st and 2nd Wilhelm did his best work.  Encarnacion grounded back to the box, but the runners both advanced 90 feet.  Detroit needed a hit to score 2 and blow the game open.  With the infield in Wilhelm fanned Brian Hunter and then Damion Easley to get out of the jam he helped create.  Still the Tigers now had a 1 run lead and Chicago had 3 outs left to tie it.  Todd Jones would toe the rubber in a clear cut save opportunity.  Pinch hitter Buddy Bradford would line out to  Hunter in center for the first out.  All-Star Tommy Davis would pop out to Randa at third for the second out, but Tommy McCraw would work out a walk to keep Chicago's faint hopes alive.  When Jones uncorked a wild pitch McCraw dashed to second and was now in scoring position.  Pete Ward had a favorable 2-1 count and attempted to turn on a Jones inside fastball.  Ward's bat was either a bit slow or Todd Jones' fastball had some extra "giddy up" on it.  Either way, the result was a pop up to shallow right that Higginson waited under for about a year before safely corralling it in his glove for the final out of the game.
Tigers lead series 2-1