Fielder homers, Tigers bounce back with 8-5 victory over White Sox

DETROIT — Prince Fielder homered, Rick Porcello pitched six solid innings and the Detroit Tigers bounced back Wednesday night with an 8-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

Detroit allowed 23 hits in an 11-4 loss to the White Sox on Tuesday, but it was the Tigers who did the slugging early on in this game. Fielder lined a two-run shot to right field in the first inning for his 16th homer of the year.

Alex Avila's two-run single in the third put Detroit ahead 5-1.

Conor Gillaspie and Gordon Beckham homered for Chicago.

Porcello (6-6) allowed three runs and seven hits. Joaquin Benoit pitched the ninth for his eighth save in eight chances.

Dylan Axelrod (3-6) allowed seven runs and 11 hits in 5 2-3 innings.

The Tigers extended their AL Central lead over second-place Cleveland to 3 ½ games.

Chicago's Alex Rios was hitless a night after going 6 for 6, and the White Sox never led Wednesday. After Gillaspie's homer in the second, the Tigers made it 3-1 on Austin Jackson's RBI triple in the bottom of the inning.

Axelrod's problems continued in the third when Avila lined a single to right with the bases loaded. The ball landed just in front of a diving Rios, and two runs came home.

Axelrod has allowed 29 earned runs in 28 innings in his last six starts.

Porcello won his second straight start — he blanked Cleveland for seven innings last week. Chicago scored twice in the fourth on an RBI single by Dayan Viciedo and a sacrifice fly by Beckham, but right fielder Torii Hunter made a diving, back-handed catch on Beckham's hit to prevent further damage.

Porcello struck out six without a walk.

Drew Smyly worked a perfect eighth for Detroit, and Benoit overcame two ninth-inning walks to close it out.