The Detroit Tigers clinched a spot in the postseason with Friday's 4-1 win, but in the final two games of the regular season, they dropped back-to-back games against the MLB-worst Chicago White Sox.

That included a 9-5 loss in Sunday's finale.

The playoffs begin Tuesday, with the Tigers heading to Houston to face the Astros in a best-of-three series.

The only positive was Kerry Carpenter hitting a grand slam off right-hander Jonathan Cannon's first-pitch fastball in the fifth inning, cutting the Tigers' deficit to 5-4. But the Tigers were unable to complete the comeback, finishing with an 86-76 record in their fourth season under manager A.J. Hinch.

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Hinch was ejected in the ninth inning by home plate umpire Marvin Hudson, marking his first ejection in 2024, tossed for arguing after a replay review from the umpires.

It's the best winning percentage for the Tigers since 2016, at .531. (The White Sox finished with a historic 121 losses, the most in modern baseball history, though they avoided finishing with MLB's worst-ever winning percentage, thanks to wins in five of their final six games.)

The Tigers didn't do anything on offense until Carpenter's grand slam, which traveled 425 feet to the seats in right-center field. Before his swing, the Tigers loaded the bases with walks to Spencer Torkelson (on 10 pitches), Trey Sweeney (on six pitches) and Parker Meadows (on five pitches).

Trailing 9-4, the Tigers loaded the bases for Spencer Torkelson in the eighth inning, facing right-handed reliever Prelander Berroa. The bases were loaded by Matt Vierling's walk, Wenceel Pérez's single and Jace Jung's pinch-hit walk.

Torkelson worked a six-pitch walk, making it 9-5.

But Sweeney, who finished 1-for-18 during the six-game homestand, grounded out on the second pitch from right-handed reliever Enyel De Los Santos to strand the bases loaded and end the inning.

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Three pitchers

Right-hander Kenta Maeda, right-hander Casey Mize and right-hander Keider Montero all struggled against the White Sox, but Maeda had the worst performance among the three pitchers.

Maeda started for the first time since July 4.

He allowed five runs on five hits and one walk with five strikeouts across 4⅔ innings, throwing 89 pitches. He allowed two runs in the second inning and three runs in the third inning. In the third, Lenyn Soto hit a three-run home run off Maeda's splitter with two outs.

Mize replaced Maeda with two outs in the fifth inning. Mize, making his second relief appearance, recorded the third out in the fifth and worked out of trouble in the sixth before getting chased in the seventh.

The Tigers swapped Mize for Montero after a single and a walk in the seventh, but both runners ended up scoring as part of a four-run seventh for the White Sox, making it 9-4.

Mize allowed two runs on two hits and two walks with zero strikeouts across 1⅓ innings, throwing 39 pitches; Montero allowed two runs (one earned run) on four hits and one walk with two strikeouts in three innings, throwing 56 pitches.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers end regular season with 9-5 loss to Chicago White Sox