CHICAGO _ Lucas Giolito got the hook after a second-inning meltdown, putting the brakes on a modest streak of strong outings, and the Tigers padded a three-run lead in the eighth on Mikie Mahtook's two-run bomb to beat the White Sox 8-3 on Tuesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Giolito had allowed just five hits and two earned runs in 13 1/3 innings in his previous two outings but had trouble putting away hitters when he had the chance Tuesday. He missed his spots, particularly with his slider, as the Tigers drove up his pitch count until he left with 50 pitches in 1 1/3 innings.
In the second, the Tigers loaded the bases with no outs against Giolito with two singles and a walk. Grayson Greiner drove in two with a double, Dawel Lugo duplicated that result, and after Giolito walked Jeimer Candelario on four pitches, his night was over.
Giolito allowed five runs (four earned) and was relieved by Hector Santiago.
Trailing 6-0, the Sox chipped away at the Tigers' lead in the fourth inning.
Yoan Moncada lined an RBI single off Francisco Liriano for the Sox's first score. Adam Engel's soft grounder and Liriano's throwing error plated another, and Ryan Cordell earned his first career RBI on a sacrifice fly to right field that cut the deficit to 6-3.
Jeanmar Gomez struck out five in 1 2/3 innings _ a career high as a reliever.
Ryan Burr, making his fourth major-league appearance, left a slider up and Mahtook cranked it 403 feet to left center field.
In the ninth inning, a fan appeared to be bleeding from the face after being hit by Candelario's line-drive foul down the first-base line about three sections past the safety netting. He was treated by stadium staff, who helped him as he walked from the stands under his own power.
Young pitchers testing limits: Reynaldo Lopez pitched 168 2/3 innings across the majors and minors in 2017, and after Monday's seven-inning effort against the Tigers he's at 162 2/3 major-league innings this season.
Giolito put in 174 total innings last year and stands at 152 1/3 this season after Tuesday's start.
Carlos Rodon is up to 99 2/3 innings from 86 1/3 from a season ago. In his case, he had a long layoff after offseason shoulder surgery.
Michael Kopech's last start against the Red Sox on Friday exceeded his previous total innings by three.
With four-fifths of their rotation age 25 or younger, the White Sox must now weigh testing the durability of young arms versus giving them valuable experience.
General manager Rick Hahn said he doesn't envision imposing innings limits on the Sox's young pitchers, which some teams tend to do at this time of year.
"We don't have firm limits on guys like Giolito or Lopez, guys who both got into the 170s-ish last year," Hahn said Monday. "We're going to continue to talk to them, see how the stuff plays, see if we see signs of fatigue and then adjust accordingly.
"We've never operated at the big league level with a magic shutdown limit, in part because those are too low and sometimes those are too high. We'd rather to just be flexible, continue to communicate with our guys and adjust as need be."
