The White Sox still aren’t hitting. Fortunately, Gavin Floyd and the bullpen were good enough to overcome that for one night.
Floyd allowed one run over five innings and combined with five relievers on a three-hitter Friday in a 3-1 win over the Rays. The White Sox moved to within one within one game of the Tigers after Detroit lost to Minnesota 4-2.
Alex Rios was the offensive star for the White Sox tonight, going 3-for-4 with a solo homer and two runs scored. While most of the rest of the lineup has slumped, he’s hit .309 with five homers and five doubles in 97 at-bast this month. The homer was his 25th overall.
Jeremy Hellickson took the loss for Tampa Bay while facing the White Sox for the first time in 63 career starts. He allowed three runs -- two earned -- in 5 2/3 innings.
The Tigers were undone by Ryan Doumit in their loss to Minnesota. After Drew Smyly turned in 5 1/3 scoreless innings, Doumit drove in all four Twins runs with a homer in the seventh and a single in the eighth. Detroit got its only runs on an Omar Infante homer in the top of the eighth.
Would-be MVP Miguel Cabrera went 2-for-4 to push his average back up to .327. However, he went without an RBI for the fifth straight game.
Cabrera’s closest competitor in the batting race, Minnesota’s Joe Mauer, went 0-for-2 with two walks in the game to drop his average to .322.