CHICAGO -- Prior to Monday’s game, Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland attributed most of his team’s early-season struggles to a high-octane offense that simply had trouble hitting.

On Monday night, they finally hit -- just not when it mattered most.

Detroit pieced together 12 hits and drew five walks, but stranded 13 base runners as the freefalling Tigers fumbled away an early-inning lead en route to 7-5 loss at US Cellular Field.

It was Detroit’s fifth loss in its past seven games and dropped the club below .500 once again.

"It’s a Catch 22 because we did swing the bats better," Leyland said. "We had opportunities to bring home some more runs, which we didn’t do.

"That hurt us in the end, obviously. We had a chance to score more. We should have scored more."

With runners on first and second, Alex Avila served as the go-ahead run at the plate with two outs in the ninth, but newly appointed closer Addison Reed induced a game-ending groundout.

"We were probably one more hit away from really scoring a bunch of runs and we didn’t quite get it," Leyland said.

The 13 runners stranded surpassed the team's previous season high (12) on May 6 against the White Sox, who entered Monday with the third-worst team batting average in the American League.

"Everyone came out swinging pretty good," Leyland said. "We just didn’t get the add-on runs -- but we had the opportunities."

The Tigers roughed up left-hander John Danks early, scoring three runs in the first, highlighted back-to-back run-scoring doubles from Prince Fielder and Delmon Young.

With runners on first and second, Fielder hit a line drive to center field that Alejandro De Aza appeared to misjudge, allowing Andy Dirks and Miguel Cabrera to score.

The double snapped Fielder's 22 hitless streak and he finished 3-for-5, increasing his batting average (.278) by 12 points. Young followed with another double over De Aza's head that brought home Fielder.

The White Sox would quickly respond, scoring two runs in the bottom of the frame.

Making his seventh career starter, Smyly gave up a leadoff single to Alejandro De Aza in the first and served up a two-run homer to Adam Dunn two batters later. It was Dunn's first homer off a left-handed pitcher since Aug. 6, 2010.

"It was a fastball that was supposed to away and I left it over the middle," Smyly said. "He did what he's been doing for years."

Detroit continued to pick on Danks with two more runs in the third when he gave up three singles and then walked Jhonny Peralta with the bases loaded. Gerald Laird's sacrifice fly gave the Tigers' a cushy three-run lead, but it wouldn't last.

After giving up a leadoff single, Smyly served up a two-run shot to the next batter, De Aza, in the fifth. Despite throwing only 69 pitches, Smyly didn't return for the sixth after giving up four runs on nine hits.

"They were pretty aggressive on him early in the game and I thought they were missing some balls that were hitting in the air that didn't smell real good," Leyland explained.

Instead, Leyland elected to bring in rookie right-hander Luke Putkonen, who struck out Paul Konerko before he gave up back-to-back hits and walked Alexei Ramirez to load the bases.

"They had never seen (Putkonen)," Leyland said. "I was hoping he could come in and hold them for a couple innings. When he struck Konerko out, I felt pretty good."

Trailing 5-4 with one out, Viciedo's single to shallow center drove in two runs, putting Smyly in line for his sixth no-decision in seven starts. Putkonen was lifted after Brent Morel's RBI single gave the White Sox a two-run lead.

"I was hoping we could hold (the lead) for a couple innings and get to (Joaquin) Benoit, but we just didn't do it," he said.

The last time Smyly faced Chicago, the rookie left-hander shut down the White Sox for six innings and limited batters to one run on two hits.

Prior to Monday’s start, Smyly hadn't given up more than two runs in any of his first six starts this season, including the 5-4 home win against Chicago on May 4.

With runners on first and second in the second inning, third base umpire Gerry Davis ruled Cabrera's sharp grounder down the third base line foul, prompting manager Jim Leyland to argue the call.

Replays showed that the ball appeared to be fair.

"No complaints about that," he said. "That’s just part of the game. It was a fair ball, but we had some other opportunities and we didn’t get the guys home and that ended up backfiring on us."

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