Baseball

Kenta Maeda Gives Up Three Runs and Eight Hits in 4 2/3 Innings; White Sox Beat Tigers 5-1

AP Photo/Paul Sancya
Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenta Maeda throws against the Chicago White Sox in the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Detroit.

12:09 JST, June 23, 2024

DETROIT (AP) — Drew Thorpe pitched six scoreless innings and got his first major league win in his third start, pitching the Chicago White Sox over the Detroit Tigers 5-1 on Saturday.

Thorpe (1-1) allowed two hits and four walks while striking out five.

“This is me. I’m pretty even-keeled, super calm, relaxed,” said Thorpe, who was given a beer shower by his teammates. “That’s just how I’ve always been.”

The 23-year-old right-hander didn’t get a decision in his debut at Seattle on June 11, then lasted 3 1/3 innings in a 12-5 loss at Arizona on June 16.

“You just flush it, right? They’re going to happen, it’s probably going to happen again,” he said. “It’s just how you move past it and get ready for the next one.”

A second-round pick by the Yankees in the 2022 amateur draft, Thorpe was dealt to San Diego in the December trade that brought Juan Soto to New York, then was traded to Chicago in March as part of a package for right-hander Dylan Cease.

He made 11 starts at Double-A Birmingham prior to the callup.

“What I like about him, he’s a great competitor,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “Through the nerves, through how he hides everything, he competes and he doesn’t shy away from contact.”

Korey Lee homered, Nicky Lopez had three hits and an RBI, and Andrew Vaughn, Paul DeJong and Lenyn Sosa drove in runs as the major league-worst White Sox (21-57) stopped a three-game losing streak.

Justin Anderson, John Brebbia and Michael Kopech pitched an inning each, with Brebbia allowing Mark Canha’s RBI groundout in the eighth.

AP Photo/Paul Sancy
Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenta Maeda throws Chicago White Sox’s Andrew Vaughn out at first base in the fourth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, June 22, 2024, in Detroit.

Detroit (35-41) has lost five of six, scoring six runs during that span.

“We’re just not stringing some hits together,” said Matt Vierling, who scored the Tigers’ only run. “I feel like offensively we’re in a little bit of a lull.”

Kenta Maeda (2-4) gave up three runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings, dropping to 0-3 in his last five starts.

DeJong had an RBI single in the fourth and scored on Lopez’s double, Vaughn had an RBI single in the fifth and Lee hit his seventh homer in a two-run sixth that included Sosa’s run-scoring single.