Tigers' Wilk Hit By Foul When Sitting In Dugout
CHICAGO (AP) — Facing a dangerous lineup in his first major league start, Adam Wilk never thought one of his own teammates would knock him out of the game.
Wilk was sitting in the dugout when he was hit in the pitching shoulder by Prince Fielder's foul ball in the sixth inning of the Detroit Tigers' 5-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Saturday.
"I had no idea it was coming," the 24-year-old left-hander said. "There was a group of players on the railing and I didn't see it coming at all. First thing I knew, it just hit me."
Wilk (0-1) was pulled with a bruised left shoulder but he is expected to make his next start.
He allowed two runs on three hits in five innings and struck out four and walked one.
"It was disappointing," Wilk said. "I'd like to keep going out there and keep the team in the game where it was, but you might as well be safe at this point. Getting hit in your throwing shoulder isn't always a good thing."
Alexei Ramirez and Tyler Flowers each hit homers off of Wilk. Paul Konerko also homered for the White Sox, who won their fourth straight game.
Gavin Floyd (1-1) pitched around three walks and three hit batters. He struck out six and allowed only three hits.
"I thought (Floyd) did a good job of taking advantage of our aggressiveness," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "He got a lot of swings on bad pitches. It was a pretty good game plan on their part."
Brennan Boesch homered in the eighth inning and Austin Jackson had three hits for the Tigers, who have scored just three runs in the last two games.
Detroit got off to a quick start, posting 23 runs in its first two games, but has now lost three of its last four and is 5-3 on the season.
"This is why I was telling everybody don't get too excited," Leyland said. "We've faced eight real good pitchers. You don't wear out good pitchers, it just doesn't happen."
Floyd loaded the bases in the second inning by hitting Delmon Young with a pitch, walking Jhonny Peralta and hitting Andy Dirks. Floyd was able to recover by getting Ryan Raburn to fly out to end the inning.
In the sixth inning, Floyd escaped trouble again. He allowed a leadoff a double to Jackson. After he struck out Boesch, Floyd walked Fielder and Young to load the bases. He then ended the inning by striking out Alex Avila.
"He made good pitches in those situations," Jackson said of Floyd. "You gotta give credit to him, because we definitely had the opportunities, but he made good pitches."
Ramirez homered on a 1-2 pitch from Wilk in the second inning to give the White Sox a l-0 lead.
Flowers homered with two outs in the fifth inning. The ball landed deep into the left field seats. Flowers started at catcher to give A.J. Pierzynski a day off.
"We play hard, I think we see that, we play as a team," Flowers said. "Actually there has been a little more camaraderie and such going on in the clubhouse, on the field and in the dugout, and I think that's better for the team."
Wilk had a 5.40 ERA with no decisions in five relief appearances in 2011. He was added to the rotation after Doug Fister was placed on the disabled list Sunday with a left rib muscle strain.
Brent Morel led off the sixth inning with a double off Tigers reliever Colin Balester and Adam Dunn followed with an RBI double.
Alejandro De Aza added an RBI triple in the seventh off Tigers reliever Daniel Schlereth and Konerko tagged Schlereth in the eighth for his first homer of the season to make it 5-1.
NOTES: The Tigers activated infielder Brandon Inge from the 15-day disabled list Saturday. He is expected to start at second base Sunday. Inge, who strained his groin during spring training, hit .197 with three homers and 23 RBIs in 103 games at third base last year. He grounded out in a pinch-hit appearance to end the game. ... Raburn stole a hit from Ramirez in the fifth by making a sliding, over the head catch down the right field line.
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