DETROIT -- If the Tigers needed one more thing to fire them up during the last week of the season, Chris Sale might have given it to them.
With the White Sox leading 1-0 in the top of the sixth inning, Sale hit Victor Martinez on the elbow. Sale had gestured to centerfield after striking out Martinez to end the third, and made a similar gesture again as Martinez walked slowly to first base.
Martinez walked toward the mound, causing both benches and bullpens to empty. No punches were thrown, and everyone eventually returned to their proper stations, although it was clear that the Tigers were still angry about the situation.
"If he injures Victor there, while we're in the pennant race, that's bad news," Brad Ausmus said. "He clearly did it on purpose, and that just can't happen. It was just weak on Sale's part."
Ausmus said that he couldn't risk retaliating and having a pitcher get suspended for part of the postseason, but his players agreed about Sale's intent.
"He definitely hit me on purpose," Martinez said. "I've never had any issue with him, and I've never had any problem with him before today."
Ian Kinsler was one of the players that was obviously angry while the players were milling about on the field, and that hadn't changed after the game.
"I don't think this lit a fire under us or anything, but it certainly gave us some energy," he said. "For a guy throwing 95 to be able to hit one of our big boys, when we're not able to retaliate because we're in a pennant race -- that's kind of hard to swallow."
The bigger question, of course, is why Sale would decide to hit Martinez in his last inning of the season. Part of it might be Martinez's career .517 average against him, but there seemed to be something else in play. The way Sale was gesturing, and the number of times that White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers visited the mound, it seemed clear that he was accusing Martinez of having someone in centerfield stealing Sale's signs. That seemed more apparent in the top of the seventh, when Sale was caught on TV making a binocular gesture with his hands.
Sale, though, pled innocent.
"There was a fan who was just wearing me out while I was warming up, telling me how bad I was and how hard Victor was going to hit me, so I tipped my cap to him after the strikeout," he said. "In the sixth? Well, everyone knows his numbers against myself, so I was trying to pitch him inside and one just got away."
As for the binoculars gesture, which was mocked by Kinsler after his RBI double in the seventh, Sale didn't recall.
"I don't remember doing that, but if I did, I was just trying to keep things loose in the dugout," he said. "
So you didn't think the Tigers were stealing signs?
"No."
That didn't jibe with what one former Tiger told Martinez while everyone was on the field.
"After the benches cleared, Avisail (Garcia) came down from right field and told me that somebody in centerfield was giving me the signs," he said. "I was like 'You have got to be kidding me.' What a joke.
"I've been doing this my whole career and that's what he thinks? What happened with all the other guys who hit good against him -- were they using somebody too?"
Sale and White Sox manager Robin Ventura, though, agreed that the incident might have given the Tigers a shot of energy. Martinez scored the tying run later in the inning, and with Sale done after six, Detroit scored twice in the seventh and three times in the eighth to take the crucial 6-1 victory.
"I thought he woke the whole team up," Martinez said. "Everyone got fired up. The fans really got into the game, and it was a lot of fun. Any time you get a win this late in the season when you are playing for something, it's huge."
The victory means that the Tigers can clinch a wild-card berth and a franchise-record fourth straight postseason berth if Toronto beats Seattle Wednesday night, but even if that happens, no one will be celebrating.
"Our goal is to win the division," Ausmus said. "This was a huge win for us today, especially taking two out of three from these guys. We just have to finish it off."
Kansas City finishes their series with Cleveland tonight, and then play Chicago for four games while the Tigers are playing the Twins. Any combination of four Detroit wins and Kansas City losses will give Ausmus a division title in his rookie season.
