Like many of our friends throughout the SB Nation network, we are simulating the 2020 MLB season with MLB The Show 20. While we are unable to stream the games as they would otherwise be happening, we will try to get ahead of the curve and post about the games on the same day they would have taken place. Or, you know, at least get them back on schedule. Now, onto the recap!
The simulated Detroit Tigers offense exploded for 10 runs on 17 hits in a 10-2 hamblasting of the Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park on Tuesday evening. The Tigers were up 6-0 after two innings, and Michael Fulmer was able to cruise to his seventh win of hte year.
This one was all but over from the start. Fulmer worked out of a bit of trouble in the top of the first, and the Tigers offense plated their first run in the bottom of the inning. Victor Reyes led off with the first of four hits on the game, and Jeimer Candelario singled to move him into scoring position. Consecutive flyouts from Miguel Cabrera and C.J. Cron brought Reyes home, giving Detroit a 1-0 lead.
The floodgates opened in the bottom of the second. Niko Goodrum and Clint Frazier opened the frame with back-to-back singles, and Austin Romine took a slider off the left shoulder to load the bases. Christin Stewart kept the line rolling with a two-run single, and Reyes brought Romine home with a bloop double. It wasn’t until Candelario flew out to shallow right that White Sox starter Carlos Rodon recorded his first out of the inning. Unfortunately for him, it was also his last, as Cabrera sent a double into the deepest part of the ballpark, scoring Stewart and Reyes. With the Tigers up 6-0, Rodon was pulled for righthander Dane Dunning.
The White Sox struck back in the top of the fourth, scoring a pair of runs. Edwin Encarnacion roped a double past Clint Frazier in right field with one out, and Nomar Mazara brought him in with a towering home run to right field, his seventh of the season. But any chances of Chicago chipping away at the Tigers’ lead were snuffed out when the home side scored runs in the fourth and fifth innings to restore their six-run cushion. They added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth for good measure via a two-run shot from Candelario, his 18th of the season.
From there, it just came down to recording the final outs. Fulmer worked through the seventh inning, allowing just six hits and a walk, while Tyler Alexander and Bryan Garcia set the White Sox down quietly in the eighth and ninth to close out the win.
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