White Sox blow 6-run lead and fall out of 1st place in AL Central with 11-8 loss to Tigers

[September 19, 2026]  CHICAGO (AP) — Hao-Yu Lee and Riley Greene each hit a two-run homer in a five-run eighth inning as the Detroit Tigers rallied from six down to beat the Chicago White Sox 11-8 on Friday night.
 
Chicago (78-76) trails first-place Cleveland by one game in the AL Central with eight remaining, although the White Sox own the head-to-head tiebreaker after winning the season series. Chicago has a one-game lead for the final American League wild card.

Detroit Tigers' Hao-Yu Lee celebrates his two-run home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Melissa Tamez)

Detroit (73-81) trailed 8-2 after Miguel Vargas hit his 32nd homer for the White Sox — a two-run shot in the third inning.

Chicago right fielder Tristan Peters left the game in the fifth after crashing into the wall in right-center on Kevin McGonigle's bases-loaded triple that cut it to 8-5 and chased rookie starter David Sandlin.

Lee had a two-out RBI double off Chris Murphy in the sixth to make it 8-6.

Lee tied it against Sean Newcomb (2-5) with his 10th homer and Greene followed with his 21st — off Bryan Hudson — later in the inning. Dillon Dingler had a go-ahead single in between the homers. Lee finished with four of the Tigers' 16 hits.

Colson Montgomery hit a three-run double with two outs in the first as Chicago scored six unearned runs off Andrew Sears in his third career start to take a 6-1 lead.

Colt Keith doubled and scored from second on a wild pitch to put Detroit up 1-0 in the first. McGonigle's RBI single cut it to 6-2 in the third.

Drew Sommers (2-4) struck out five in two perfect innings for the win, and Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for his 21st save in 27 opportunities this season. It was the 497th save of his career.

Sandlin pitched four innings in his fifth career start and allowed five runs on seven hits.

Up next
Tigers RHP Jackson Jobe (2-2, 3.89 ERA) starts Saturday opposite White Sox RHP Sean Burke (9-7, 3.47). The game time was moved up to 1:10 p.m. because of the weather.

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