For the Detroit Tigers, five runs are usually enough.
Coming into Monday night's game in Chicago against the White Sox, the Tigers were 24-2 when scoring five runs or more and just 9-24 when they scored four runs or less.
But Rick Porcello, who normally pitches well against the White Sox, struggled to find his command in the 6-5 loss.
The very first batter of the game, Adam Eaton, tripled and scored on Gordon Beckham's single.
"I warmed up probably the best I've warmed up all year," Porcello told FOX Sports Detroit's Mickey York on the post-game show. "Should have known something was coming after that. I probably didn't miss a spot in the bullpen warming up but when I got out there it was a different story and just couldn't regroup from it."
Porcello was able to overcome three errors in the game, including his own throwing error, but couldn't overcome White Sox slugger Jose Abreu.
Abreu turned a 3-2 Sox lead into a 5-2 lead with one swing, hitting his 18th home run in the bottom of the fifth.
"Gave up the big home run, which was really the back breaker from where I'm sitting," Porcello said.
Porcello, who fell to 8-4 with a 4.04 ERA, gave up all six runs (five earned) on nine hits while walking one and striking out four.
"He was up in the zone," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus told York. "When he has trouble getting the ball down, that's when he gets hit. That's when he gets fly balls, balls in the gaps and occasional home runs happen. So he was a little up."
The Tigers got home runs from Miguel Cabrera, playing despite a tight left hamstring, rookie Eugenio Suarez and Victor Martinez and fought back to get within one run.
But rookie Corey Knebel, who relieved Porcello, gave up an RBI single to Eaton, which ended up as the winning run.
"I've got Eaton up there, great hitter, he had a triple at the beginning of the game and he's really fast," Knebel told York. "All I gotta think about at that point is getting ahead of him. I didn't do that. I went 2-0 on him. Even on real good hitters, you just gotta get ahead and keep the ball down and I struggled with that on him."
The Tigers had a chance in the ninth after Austin Jackson and Alex Avila hit back-to-back doubles but with pinch runner Davis taking third, Ian Kinsler was called out on strikes and pinch hitter Torii Hunter grounded out.
"We had a pretty good chance," Victor Martinez told York. "Anytime you have the tying run at third base with less than two outs, especially Rajai running at third and the kind of hitter that we had at the plate, your expectations are high. But that's baseball."
Porcello credited his teammates for the comeback but blamed himself for the loss.
"Not to disrespect anything that they did (Monday night) and how well they swung the bats, but from my side of it, I didn't do a good enough job of making pitches and that's what it comes down to," Porcello said. "A lot of times they'll put good swings on good pitches and you get guys out. I didn't do that.
"Pretty disappointed with the way I performed (Monday night) and excited to get back out there in four days."
Tune in to FOX Sports Detroit at 7 p.m. for Tigers Live, followed by Justin Verlander taking on the White Sox in Game 2 of the four-game set at 8 p.m.
