Upton walk-off completes Tigers sweep of White Sox

Detroit Tigers’ Justin Upton celebrates his walk off three-run home run against the Chicago White Sox in the ninth inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Sunday, June 4, 2017. Detroit won 7-4. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) ORG XMIT: MIPS121

DETROIT — Justin Upton’s three-run homer in the ninth inning against David Robertson lifted the Tigers to a 7-4 victory over the White Sox, completing a three-game sweep and dealing the Sox their fifth consecutive loss.

The Sox (24-31) played a sloppy series in Detroit. On Sunday, second baseman Yolmer Sanchez made an error and misplayed a double-play grounder into a force out in the ninth, and reliever Chris Beck was charged with an error on a check-the-runner throw to first that Jose Abreu should have caught. The Tigers easily stole third base twice, and rookie Adam Engel failed to get a safety squeeze down.

“Yeah, we didn’t have a great showing here in Detroit,’’ Robertson said. “It sucks to lose that one. It sucks to give up a walk-off. We pretty much played like crap the last three days, and it showed.’’

Robertson (3-2) hit Nicholas Castellanos on the hand with a curveball leading off the ninth before Miguel Cabrera’s ground ball hit Sanchez in the chest. Sanchez settled to get Cabrera at first.

J.D. Martinez was intentionally walked before Upton drove a hanging 1-2 curveball for his 11th homer.

“It sat in the middle of the zone, and he hit it I’m assuming about 20 rows back,’’ Robertson said. “I didn’t need to look. It was loud off the bat.”

Martinez also homered against Sox starter David Holmberg for the Tigers (28-28), who have won four in a row.

Avisail Garcia and Todd Frazier had three hits each, Frazier ripping his eighth homer to give the Sox a 2-0 lead against Justin Verlander, who would leave in the third with a tight groin. Frazier, Tim Anderson and Kevin Smith doubled in a two-run eighth that erased a 4-2 deficit.

Manager Rick Renteria said his team looked “lethargic,” although he insisted on praising it for “grinding” and “fighting every single inning.”

“All in all, our guys were probably a little tired today,’’ Renteria said. “Nonetheless, that’s not an excuse for some of the mistakes that we made.’’

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Email: dvanschouwen@suntimes.com