White Sox Starter Davis Martin Struggles in 7-2 Loss To Tigers

Perhaps the most promising aspect of the first five games of the 2025 White Sox season was a starting pitching staff that combined for 28 innings without allowing an earned run.

But the second time through, the rotation has gone in the opposite direction. Sean Burke gave up six earned runs in Wednesday’s loss to the Twins, and Jonathan Cannon allowed three earned runs in 3.2 innings Friday in Detroit. After pitching six innings without allowing an earned run in his season debut against the Angels, White Sox starter Davis Martin was rocked by the Tigers in Saturday’s 7-2 loss.

The lineup gave Martin an early 1-0 lead with an RBI double from first baseman Andrew Vaughn in the first inning. But Martin was reeling from the get-go. On his first pitch, he left an 89 mile-per hour sinker over the heart of the plate, and Justyn-Henry Malloy ripped it for a double.

With the White Sox infield in, Riley Greene snuck a ground ball between Vaughn and second baseman Lenyn Sosa to even the score. Spencer Torkelson followed with a double to left field on a slider down the middle. Andy Ibáñez hit a slow dribbler to third baseman Miguel Vargas, who fielded it bare-handed but had no time to make a play at any base as the Tigers took a 2-1 lead after the first inning.

Martin looked to settle in, retiring the first two batters of the second inning. But after walking Malloy, he hung a center-cut curveball that Kerry Carpenter smacked 109 miles per hour for his third home run in the last two games, giving Detroit a 4-1 advantage.

Martin immediately ran into more trouble in the third inning, as Spencer Torkelson hit a changeup at the bottom of the zone for a 368-foot home run. He struggled with control too, walking Colt Keith and hitting Ibáñez in the next two at-bats. By the end of the third, the Tigers had jumped out to a 7-1 lead, as Trey Sweeney reached on a fielder’s choice and Malloy hit a sacrifice fly.

The White Sox built some momentum in the fifth with sharp singles by Korey Lee and Jake Amaya and a Vargas walk. Robert’s ground ball was enough to bring in a run, but the Tigers gladly traded that for two outs and a rally-killing double play. He missed another opportunity to drive in a run in the seventh, but grounded out with soft contact to third instead. Robert’s average fell to .138 on the season to go with a .398 OPS.

White Sox manager Will Venable kept Martin in the game, and he got out of the fourth inning thanks to a double play by middle infielders Amaya and Sosa. Sweeney looked to do more damage in the fifth, but a crisp relay by Robert, Sosa and Vargas nabbed Sweeney attempting to stretch a triple. That’d be it for Martin after 88 pitches. Across five innings, he gave up nine hits, two home runs, and seven earned runs while walking two batters and striking out a pair.

Relievers Fraser Ellard, Cam Booser and Jordan Leasure held the Tigers scoreless in the final two frames, but the White Sox lineup went down in order in the eighth and ninth to end the game.

The White Sox have lost four games in a row to fall to 2-6 ahead of Sunday’s series finale at 1:40 p.m. ET in Detroit. A pitching staff that gave up just five runs in the first four games has allowed 28 over the last four.

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