Soto powers White Sox to rout of Tigers
CHICAGO -- Geovany Soto homered twice, Matt Davidson also homered and right-hander James Shields sailed through 5 1/3 innings as the Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 11-2 on a cool, but rain-free Thursday afternoon
Soto slammed a three-run home run and a solo shot in his fourth career multi-homer game. Davidson was 2-for-3 with a three-run homer and a triple in the finale of a season-opening series that was interrupted by two rainouts.
Shields (1-0) allowed one run and two hits while striking out five and working around five walks.
The Tigers jumped to a 1-0 lead in the second as Tyler Collins sent Shields' 0-1 pitch to right for a leadoff homer and a 1-0 lead.
The White Sox matched that run and more in the bottom of the inning off Tigers starter Matt Boyd (0-1).
Besides homering, Davidson also recorded his first career triple. He scored on a sacrifice bunt by Jacob May.
Both runners advanced as Boyd had a throwing error to catcher James McCann. May then came home for a 2-1 lead on Tim Anderson's two-out single to left-center.
Soto made it 5-1 in the third with a one-out, three-run homer to left, scoring Avisail Garcia and Davidson and spelling the end for Boyd.
Boyd threw 80 pitches while working 2 1/3 innings. He allowed five runs on five hits, struck out two and walked four.
Chicago added four more runs in the fourth off Tigers reliever Anibal Sanchez, including a Davidson three-run homer.
Jose Abreu's sixth-inning single brought home Melky Cabrera with none out for a 10-1 lead. Soto made it 11-1 with a solo homer in the seventh off reliever Alex Wilson.
Detroit scored once in the eighth as Alex Avila's two-out double drove in Nick Castellanos.
Chicago produced an 11-hit attack as Anderson, Abreu and Garcia also had two hits apiece.
NOTES: The Tigers send RHP Michael Fulmer, the 2016 AL Rookie of the Year, to the mound against the Boston Red Sox in Friday's home opener at Comerica Park. Fulmer was 11-7 with a 3.06 ERA and 132 strikeouts last season. Two rainouts this week led Tigers manager Brad Ausmus to shuffle his pitching rotation as RHP Jordan Zimmermann moved from an original Wednesday start to Saturday. LHP Daniel Norris goes on Sunday while RHP Justin Verlander (1-0) gets his second start of the season in Monday's series finale. ... Chicago placed RHP Jake Petricka on the 10-day disabled list (strained right lat) on Thursday, retroactive to April 5 and called up RHP Tommy Kahnle from Triple-A Charlotte. ... After having two games postponed this week by rain and cold, conditions are expected to improve as the White Sox host the Twins in a weekend series with temperatures in the mid-50s on Friday and mid-70s by Sunday. ... LHP Derek Holland makes his White Sox debut in Friday's series opener against Minnesota.