Sox lose to Indians, fall into first-place tie

The Sox gave Detroit an opening to tie for the division lead when Gordon Beckham hit into a game-ending forceout with the potential tying run on second base Tuesday in a 4-3 loss to the last-place Cleveland Indians.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. “[Detroit is] not going to go away. They’ll keep playing hard.”

Hours later, Anibal Sanchez pitched a three-hitter for the Tigers in a 2-0 victory over Kansas City that left both Detroit and the Sox at 82-72 with eight games to go.

The Sox had been alone in first place since Sept. 3.

The Sox have lost six of seven and have had trouble scoring without the long ball of late. Three solo homers were all the offense the Sox mustered Tuesday.

Down 4-0, the Sox rallied when Pierzynski and Dayan Viciedo hit consecutive fifth-inning home runs off Corey Kluber (2-4) and then pulled within a run when Paul Konerko homered off Chris Perez leading off the ninth.

“It’s just going to take some hits together that don’t go over the fence,” Beckham said. “If you string hits together, you usually score runs. It happens that a lot of ours go over the fence.”

Perez walked a pair of batters with two outs, and Beckham grounded to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who threw to second baseman Jason Kipnis for the force.

“Every day there’s close games,” Konerko said. “Today was obviously not a step in the right direction. It was a tough game. We showed some heart to battle back. At this point of the season, you need the victories.”

After Wednesday night’s series finale, the Sox host a four-game series against Tampa Bay and then close with three games in Cleveland.

Detroit finishes its four-game series against Kansas City on Thursday, then winds up with a pair of three-game series at Minnesota and the Royals.

Francisco Liriano (6-12) allowed all four runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He is 1-2 with a 6.30 ERA in his past seven appearances.