CHICAGO — The Detroit Tigers were tested in Friday's opener of a four-game series against the worst team in baseball (which appears to be one of the worst teams in baseball history).

The Tigers passed.

A two-run seventh inning led the Tigers to a 5-2 win over the Chicago White Sox on Friday night at Guaranteed Rate Field. Matt Vierling drove in the go-ahead run with a ground-ball single off right-handed reliever Justin Anderson that shot into right field.

"My plan — first and third, less than two outs, tie game in the seventh — is trying to get the guy home," Vierling said. "I'm trying to really just put the ball in play, ideally with a sac fly or something like that."

The White Sox are on pace for 122 losses, at 31-98. The modern MLB record for losses is 120, set by the 1962 New York Mets. The American League record is 119, set by the 2003 Tigers.

"I think it's important to keep the same approach," Vierling said. "If you think differently, that's when it goes bad or that's when you can get out of your game a little bit. You're just trying to play the same baseball we've played for a while now, just be aggressive and put together good at-bats."

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The Tigers (63-66) scored one run apiece in the first and second innings, then were shut down by right-hander Chris Flexen for the remainder of his six-inning start. An opportunity arrived when Flexen exited, and the Tigers immediately took advantage.

A walk from Parker Meadows and a single from Riley Greene set the table for Vierling, but first, the White Sox called Anderson, a righty, to replace left-handed reliever Fraser Ellard.

The pitching change didn't bother Vierling, who smoked the second pitch from Anderson — a middle-away sinker — on the ground and into right field for an RBI single and a 3-2 lead.

"Just putting the ball in play," Vierling said. "It was critical for me at that point not to strike out. To be able to put a ball in play, and it found a hole right there, it was pretty cool."

With two outs, Colt Keith turned on a first-pitch fastball from Anderson for a single into right field that scored Vierling from second base, making it 4-2.

Another run scored in the ninth inning, for a 5-2 lead, on a pinch-hit single from Zach McKinstry.

Before the hit, the Tigers sent Jake Rogers — batting .186 in 77 games — to the plate against a left-handed reliever as a pinch-hitter for Kerry Carpenter, which tricked the White Sox into bringing in a right-handed reliever, and when that happened, the Tigers deployed the left-handed McKinstry as a pinch-hitter for Rogers.

"There's going to be a time where I'm not hitting for (Carpenter)," Hinch said, "but when you have the matchups the way we have it, and we could get a right-handed pitcher in to face McKinstry and Colt, we took that shot to try to tack on runs. It puts the other side in a tough bind. Which matchup do you want? We have capable guys, and we also have guys who are ready. It's why all year we've been preaching to be ready, because the situation can flip in a second. You got to be ready on a moment's notice."

The Tigers protected the lead with scoreless performances from right-handed reliever Shelby Miller in the eighth inning and right-handed reliever Jason Foley in the ninth inning. Miller has thrown 7⅔ scoreless innings in a row in his past seven relief appearances, logging zero walks and nine strikeouts.

"Pitching ahead (in the count) helps for him," Hinch said of Miller, who has a 4.91 ERA in 47⅔ innings. "When he gets all three pitches in and around the zone, he's really hard to hit."

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Keider Montero inconsistent

Right-hander Keider Montero provided five innings, but facing the worst team in baseball, he failed to build upon a career-best start against the best team in baseball.

It's an example of the inconsistencies in his rookie campaign.

Montero dominated the New York Yankees in his last start, only to struggle against the White Sox, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts in five innings. He surrendered one run in the second inning and one run in the fourth inning.

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"I was missing the strike zone to some of the hitters," Montero said in Spanish, interpreted by Carlos Guillén, who works as the Tigers' manager of Spanish communication and broadcasting. "It was my responsibility for not finishing them with two strikes, so they took advantage of some opportunities. It's part of the game. That's something I've been working on progressively. It's something that I hope I can get better at soon."

The White Sox scored their first run on Lenyn Sosa's RBI single in the second, followed by their second run on Korey Lee's RBI double in the fourth. After that, the score was tied, 2-2, before the Tigers' breakthrough in the seventh.

Montero, though, deserves credit for working out of jams to limit the damage. He stranded runners in scoring position in the second, fourth and fifth innings. His outing ended when Andrew Vaughn flied out to end the fifth, leaving two runners on base.

In the second, catcher Dillon Dingler threw out Sosa trying to steal second base with a runner on third base, even though the runner stayed put at the hot corner as the play developed.

The successful throw ended the inning.

"They're not sure when we're going to throw, when we're not," Hinch said. "We wanted to take a shot to end the inning there. They probably thought that we weren't going to throw, which is why sometimes you don't. It creates a little bit of an unknown."

Two early runs

Back-to-back doubles from Greene and Vierling put the Tigers ahead, 1-0, in the first inning. Greene smacked his double to right field with a 104.6 mph exit velocity, while Vierling ripped his double to left at 107.1 mph.

The Tigers extended their lead to 2-0 with Dingler's RBI single in the second inning, set up by Jace Jung's leadoff double to center field. Jung, like Greene and Vierling, hit the ball hard, an indication Flexen could be chased early.

Somehow, Flexen settled in.

Flexen allowed two runs on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts across six innings, throwing 98 pitches. He lowered his ERA from 5.46 to 5.34 in his 26th game. Although he took a no-decision, the team loss for the White Sox was the 19th straight in one of his starts.

Spencer Torkelson finished 0-for-5 with two strikeouts. He lined out with two runners in scoring position in the seventh and struck out looking with the bases loaded in the ninth.

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 surge late for 5-2 win over Chicago White Sox