Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Max Scherzer pitched the first complete game of his career in a 4-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Scherzer had made the most starts without a complete game (178) since 1900.
Against the White Sox, the 2013 American League Cy Young Award winner went the distance, yielding only three hits and three walks on 113 pitches. He struck out eight and picked up his eighth win of the year.
“Max obviously was outstanding,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said in his postgame press conference on MLB.com. “He did exactly what we needed. He went up against one of the best pitchers in the game and held on for nine [innings]. We knew that we can’t ask for anything more out of him.”
White Sox ace Chris Sale allowed one run on five hits in seven innings of work; he fanned 10 and suffered his first defeat of the season.
Tigers designated hitter Victor Martinez produced the only Detroit run against Sale with a solo home run in the fifth.
In the eighth, first baseman Miguel Cabrera drove in two runs with an infield single. Detroit pushed its final run across with an RBI single off the bat of catcher Bryan Holaday that scored third baseman Don Kelly, according to ESPN.
With the win, the Tigers avoid the three-game sweep and maintain a two and a half game lead in the division. Both teams open up weekend series against division rivals at home on Friday; the Tigers host the Minnesota Twins, and the White Sox welcome Kansas City Royals to the Windy City.