Eloy Jimenez hits grand slam as White Sox rout Tigers 10-1

DETROIT — With two on and two out in the fourth inning Friday, the Tigers intentionally walked Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada to load the bases and get to rookie outfielder Eloy Jimenez.

Big mistake.

Jimenez belted his second career grand slam over the right-field wall.

“It was out of the zone, high fastball,” he said after the Sox’ 10-1 win. “When I hit it, I said, ‘That is gone.’ ”

Jimenez finished 3-for-5 and was a double short of completing the cycle.

And he was just one of several core players who put the Sox’ future on display at Comerica Park.

Shortstop Tim Anderson and Moncada, both in the top five in the American League for batting average, continued their dominance at the plate. Anderson went 2-for-5, while Moncada, who hit a two-run homer in the third, finished 2-for-3.

In fact, all the Sox’ bats were hot against the Tigers. For the second time in the last three games, all nine starters had a hit.

Even right fielder Daniel Palka, who had been a dismal 2-for-64 with the Sox this season before Friday’s game, had himself a night: three hits in his first multihit game since last Sept. 30. And second baseman Yolmer Sanchez had a career-high four hits.

Then there was starting pitcher Dylan Cease, who followed a solid five-inning outing against the Mariners last Saturday with another strong performance.

Cease has been up-and-down since he earned his major-league call-up this summer. But on Friday, he was more efficient with his pitches. In six innings, he allowed five hits and one run while striking out eight and walking two.

“I feel like not even close to the same pitcher I was when I first got called up,” said Cease, who’s 4-7 with a 5.88 ERA and will have at least one more start in 2019. “There’s still a lot of work to be done, but I feel good with where my stuff is.”

Manager Rick Renteria was pleased to see a team effort.

“Ultimately, you don’t want just individual successes,” he said. “You want a team success — you want everybody to be contributing some way, shape or form — and I think our guys are learning to kind of feed off each other.”

Although the Sox’ success came against the division bottom-feeder Tigers, who have lost five of their last six, the Sox are giving fans hope for the future — especially because some of their best players haven’t arrived yet. Looking down the pipeline and on the injured list, this team has plenty of potential, including top pitching prospect Michael Kopech, versatile infielder Nick Madrigal and top hitting prospect Luis Robert.

“It’s very exciting, especially to have worked my way up from the minors to see all the talent,” Cease said. “It’s definitely easy to dream on this team.”

The win against a bad team might not mean much in the grand scheme of this lost season. But it could be a sign of what’s to come.

“I hope that any time we go out and play a decent ballgame, it’s a foreshadowing of what we want to be,” Renteria said. “That will ultimately be the goal, and we want it to start occurring sooner rather than later.”