Benintendi's tie-breaking RBI single sends White Sox to crucial 4-3 win over Tigers

DETROIT (AP) — Andrew Benintendi had two hits, including the go-ahead single in the seventh inning, and the Chicago White Sox defeated the Detroit Tigers on Saturday for the second straight day, 4-3.

Chicago (64-58) has won five of seven and now leads the AL Central by a season-best 4 1/2 games over the Tigers (60-63) and Minnesota Twins.

Jordan Hicks (2-1) picked up the win for Chicago with 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, and Bryan Hudson pitched the ninth for his fifth save of the season.

The teams traded runs in the first, with Braden Montgomery's RBI single for the White Sox in the top of the inning being answered by one from Eduardo Valencia in the bottom of the frame.

Chicago wasted chances to add on — formers Tigers player Jake Rogers bunted into a double play and first baseman Spencer Torkelson threw out Munetaka Murakami at the plate on a ground ball — but Colson Montgomery's two-out, two-run double gave the White Sox a 3-1 lead in the third.

Valencia led off the fourth inning with his sixth home run in 50 career at-bats, pulling the Tigers within a run.

Chicago got a runner to third with one out in the fifth, but Drew Sommers replaced starter Troy Melton and struck out Braden Montgomery and Colson Montgomery to end the inning.

Detroit scored the tying run in the bottom of the inning on back-to-back doubles by Corey Julks and Gleyber Torres before Chicago went ahead in the seventh on Benintendi's RBI single off Sommers (0-3).

The teams finish the three-game series on Sunday with Tigers RHP Drew Anderson (4-4, 3.91 ERA) facing White Sox RHP Sean Burke (7-6, 2.99).

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Detroit Tigers pitcher Drew Sommers throws against the Chicago White Sox during the fifth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Chicago White Sox pitcher Jordan Hicks throws against the Detroit Tigers during the sixth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Detroit Tigers' Corey Julks hits a double against the Chicago White Sox during the fifth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Chicago White Sox's Randal Grichuk (34) celebrates scoring against the Detroit Tigers during the seventh inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Iran said Qatar was holding three of its pilots who had been missing since March, which Qatar denied. The United Arab Emirates accused Iran of again attacking one of its vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. The Iran-backed Houthis again struck a Red Sea port in Yemen.

And in southern Lebanon, 11 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes, some of the deadliest since a shaky truce between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah went into effect on June 20.

Here’s a look at the latest developments on Saturday in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

Qatar's armed forces captured and were holding three pilots who went missing in March when their jets were downed, the Missing Persons Committee of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff said. Qatar, however, denied it.

Until now, Tehran had said it had no information about their fate. This is the first known case in the war where Iran has said a regional country is holding its fighters. Qatar on March 2 said its air force shot down two Iranian bombers as Tehran lashed out against countries hosting U.S. military bases in the opening days of the war.

Saturday's statement alleged that Qatar had not allowed the pilots to meet or communicate with families or Iranian officials handling their cases. Iran asked the International Committee of the Red Cross president for help. The letter said a fourth pilot was killed while on the mission “targeting an enemy military base in Qatar," state media reported.

A spokesperson with Qatar's foreign ministry, Majed Al Ansari, later denied the claims and indicated on X that the pilots had been shot down and that Qatar's search and rescue teams found the remains of one. He said Iran was invited in April to visit and be briefed on those efforts, with no response.

The tanker owned by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil and gas company ADNOC was attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the Emirati state-run WAM news agency said Saturday.

There were no injuries in the Friday evening attack, the agency reported. It was the third such attack on a vessel operated by ADNOC in the critical waterway in the last week. The United Arab Emirates in a statement called on Iran to stop the unprovoked strikes.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said a bulk carrier was struck in the hull by an unknown projectile on Friday. It was not immediately clear if it was the same vessel.

Iran asserted control over the strait after the war started on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes. About one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed through the waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf before then.

Talks between the U.S. and Iran have stalled while Iran is in discussions with Oman about how to manage the strait that runs between them and had been considered an international waterway.

Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people Saturday.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry and state news agency said one strike targeted a home on the edge of the village of Ansar and killed seven people, including three children, and wounded two. The second, on the village of Deir al-Zahrani, killed four and wounded 17.

Israel's military said it killed a Hezbollah battalion commander and several other militants at a headquarters in southern Lebanon in response to the group’s actions against Israeli soldiers operating there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office in a separate statement said three soldiers were seriously injured. The military blamed an explosive drone.

The military said the commander's family was with him, and that “it should be emphasized that the family members were not the target of the strike.” Both the military and Netanyahu's office alleged the commander used the family members as human shields.

It was one of the deadliest days since the Lebanese government and Israel announced a “framework agreement” laying out a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah's disarmament.

The militant group refused direct talks and was not part of the agreement.

Yemen's military said the Houthis attacked the Red Sea port of Mokha under the control of the internationally recognized government. Port director Abdul-Malik al-Sharabi told journalists that Friday evening’s attack killed three people including two marines, and that port operations had been suspended.

Military spokesperson Col. Majed al-Nazili said in a statement that the Houthis fired six ballistic missiles.

The Houthis' attack was the latest on government-held areas and on neighboring Saudi Arabia, part of an escalation threatening to plunge Yemen back into civil war.

Analysts say the escalation reflects how Iran is scaling up pressure on the United States and its regional allies.

A woman is silhouetted against the sun as she checks her cellphone at Islamic Revolution square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A man rides on his motorbike past a billboard with a message that reads in Farsi: " We must rise up" and an image of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the U.S. and Israel strikes on Feb. 28, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Rescue workers carry a plastic bag, containing the body of a person who was killed at a house that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Zahrani village, southern Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A man reacts on the rubble of a destroyed home that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Ansar village, southern Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)