Spencer Torkelson's 3-run homer helps Tigers beat MLB-worst White Sox 6-3 for 4-game sweep

CHICAGO (AP) — Spencer Torkelson hit a three-run homer during a five-run seventh inning, and the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3 on Monday night to complete a four-game sweep and drop the majors' worst team to 31-101.

Parker Meadows led off the seventh with a homer off Jared Shuster (1-3) that tied the game at 2-all. Jace Jung hit a go-ahead RBI single before Torkelson greeted Justin Anderson with a 439-foot drive to center field that made it 6-2.

“There’s always that belief,” said Torkelson, who turned 25 on Monday. “When you’ve got a lineup like ours, we’re really gritty and we never take an at-bat for granted. We’re going to give it everything we’ve got on every single pitch, and that’s a really tough thing to face as a pitching staff. When you have nine guys putting together really good at-bats, it’s probably exhausting. We always feel like we’re in the fight, we’re never out of it.”

The White Sox have lost eight of nine and recorded their 31st blown save, the most in the majors. They have four wins in their past 38 games.

Torkelson finished 3 for 5, falling a triple short of the cycle, as the Tigers (66-66) returned to .500 for the first time since June 7. They have won 11 of 14.

“We want to play winning baseball,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Obviously, we’ve had to do a lot to get to this point, but it’s just this point. The season’s not over. It hasn’t been over. There’s been a lot of conversation around this team. It’s changed, and we’re going to continue to show up ready to play, every day.”

Detroit right-hander Ty Madden gave up two runs, one earned, in five innings in his major league debut. The 24-year-old allowed four hits and three walks.

Sean Guenther (1-0) worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings for his first career win, and Tyler Holton handled the ninth for his fifth save.

Andrew Vaughn drove in runs for the White Sox with a sacrifice fly in the first and a single in the third. Andrew Benintendi homered in the eighth for Chicago.

Davis Martin allowed one run on seven hits in five innings for the White Sox.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Tigers: SS Javier Báez will have season-ending surgery on his right hip, Hinch said. Báez was moved to the 60-day injured list. ... LHP Bryan Sammons was optioned to Triple-A Toledo. He allowed one earned run in 4 1/3 innings in Sunday's win over the White Sox. RHP Mason Englert was recalled from Toledo. ... RHP Will Vest was placed on the paternity list.

White Sox: Claimed INF Jacob Amaya off waivers from Houston and designated INF Nick Senzel for assignment. ... Recalled LHP Sammy Peralta and INF Bryan Ramos from Triple-A Charlotte and optioned LHP Ky Bush to Charlotte.

UP NEXT

LHP Brant Hurter (1-1, 3.57 ERA) is set to start for the Tigers Tuesday as they return home to begin a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels, while White Sox ace Garrett Crochet (6-9, 3.64) takes the mound as Chicago hosts the Texas Rangers.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Ty Madden delivers in his Major League debut during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Detroit Tigers' Colt Keith (33) celebrates his two-run home run with Riley Greene, during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Davis Martin delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Ty Madden follows through with a pitch in his Major League debut during the third inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Detroit Tigers' Parker Meadows points to teammates in the dugout after his home run off Chicago White Sox relief pitcher Jared Shuster during the seventh inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago White Sox's Dominic Fletcher dives safely back to first after unsuccessfully trying to stretch his single into a double as Detroit Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson takes the throw from shortstop Trey Sweeney during the fourth inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Detroit Tigers' Spencer Torkelson celebrates his three-run home run off Chicago White Sox relief pitcher Justin Anderson in the dugout during the seventh inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

NEW YORK (AP) — Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a powerful leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, pleaded not guilty Friday in a U.S. drug trafficking case that accuses him of engaging in murder plots and ordering torture.

Participating in a court hearing through a Spanish-language interpreter, Zambada gave yes-or-no answers to a magistrate’s standard questions about whether he understood various documents and procedures. Asked how he was feeling, Zambada said, “Fine, fine.”

His lawyers entered the not-guilty plea on his behalf.

Outside court, Zambada attorney Frank Perez said his client wasn't contemplating making a deal with the government, and the attorney expects the case to go to trial.

“It's a complex case,” he said.

Sought by U.S. law enforcement for more than two decades, Zambada has been in U.S. custody since July 25, when he landed in a private plane at an airport outside El Paso, Texas, in the company of another fugitive cartel leader, Joaquín Guzmán López, according to federal authorities.

Zambada later said in a letter that he was kidnapped in Mexico and brought to the U.S. by Guzmán López, a son of imprisoned Sinaloa co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Zambada's lawyer did not elaborate on those claims Friday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James Cho ordered Zambada detained until trial. His lawyers did not ask for bail, and U.S. prosecutors in Brooklyn asked the judge to detain him.

“He was one of the most, if not the most, powerful narcotics kingpins in the world,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro said. “He co-founded the Sinaloa cartel and sat atop the narcotics trafficking world for decades.”

Zambada sat quietly as he listened to the interpreter. Leaving court after the brief hearing, he appeared to accept some help getting out of a chair, then walked out slowly but unaided.

The 76-year-old had used a wheelchair at a court appearance in Texas last month. But Perez said after court Friday that Zambada was healthy and “in good spirits.”

Sketch artists were in the small courtroom, but other journalists could observe only through closed-circuit video because of a shortage of seats.

In court and in a letter earlier to the judge, prosecutors said Zambada presided over a vast and violent operation, with an arsenal of military-grade weapons, a private security force that was almost like an army, and a corps of “sicarios,” or hitmen, who carried out assassinations, kidnappings and torture.

His bloody tenure included ordering the murder, just months ago, of his own nephew, prosecutors said.

“A United States jail cell is the only thing that will prevent the defendant from committing further crimes,” Navarro said.

Zambada also pleaded not guilty to the charges at an earlier court appearance in Texas. His next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 31.

According to authorities, Zambada and “El Chapo” Guzmán built the Sinaloa cartel from a regional syndicate into a huge manufacturer and smuggler of cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs to U.S. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has described defeating the cartel as one of the agency's top operational priorities.

Zambada has been seen as the group's strategist and dealmaker and a less flamboyant figure than Guzmán. Zambada had never been behind bars until his July arrest.

His “day of reckoning in a U.S. courtroom has arrived, and justice will follow,” Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney Breon Peace declared in a statement Friday.

Zambada's arrest has touched off fighting in Mexico between rival factions in the Sinaloa cartel. Gunfights have killed several people. Schools in businesses in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, have closed amid the fighting. The battles are believed to be between factions loyal to Zambada and those led by other sons of “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was convicted of drug and conspiracy charges and sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. in 2019.

It remains unclear why Guzmán López surrendered to U.S. authorities and brought Zambada with him. Guzmán López is awaiting trial on a separate drug trafficking indictment in Chicago, where he has pleaded not guilty.

Associated Press video journalist David R. Martin contributed to this report.

In this courtroom sketch, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, second left, assisted by the U.S. Marshals, is led into the courtroom as his defense attorney Frank Perez, seated right, watches in federal court, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in the Brooklyn borough of New York,. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Frank Perez, attorney for longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leaves Brooklyn federal court after Zambada's arraignment Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Frank Perez, attorney for longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leaves Brooklyn federal court after Zambada's arraignment Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Frank Perez, attorney for longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leaves Brooklyn federal court after Zambada's arraignment Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Frank Perez, attorney for longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leaves Brooklyn federal court after Zambada's arraignment Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Frank Perez, attorney for longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leaves Brooklyn federal court after Zambada's arraignment Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Frank Perez, attorney for longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leaves Brooklyn federal court after Zambada's arraignment Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro, right, leaves Brooklyn Federal court after the arraignment of longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, Friday, Sept.13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro, right, leaves Brooklyn Federal court after the arraignment of longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Frank Perez, attorney for longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leaves Brooklyn federal court after Zambada's arraignment Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

In this courtroom sketch, Ismael Zambada Garcia, El Mayo, center, is seated beside his defense attorney Frank Perez, left, in Federal court, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)