The Tampa Bay Rays rallied from a 7-2 deficit after five innings to force extra innings, but Yasmani Grandal‘s RBI single in the bottom of the tenth inning gave the Chicago White Sox an 8-7 win Wednesday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The Rays rally started in the top of the sixth inning, as Yandy Diaz blasted a two-out solo homer of White Sox starter Lucas Giolito, his second of the year, to make it 7-3.
Milke Zunino cut Tampa Bay’s deficit in half after Kevin Kiermaier singled off Wite Sox reliever Codi Heuer by blasting his 13th home run of the season deep into the seats in left.
The Rays would tie the game up against Aaron Bummer in the eighth, with pinch-hitter Mike Brosseau first reaching on an error by second baseman Danny Mendick and Austin Meadows followed with a base hit, moving Brosseau to third base. Yandy Diaz grounded into a fielder’s choice, erasing Meadows at second but allowing Brosseau to score to make it 7-6. Bummer struck out pinch0hitter Francisco Mejia, but Manuel Margot, facing Evan Marshall, doubled into the left-center field gap, allowing pinch0runner Brett Phillips to score from first base and tie the game.
Chicago got on the scoreboard against Rays starter Ryan Yarbrough in the fourth, as Jose Abreu blasted a two-run homer, his 12th of the season, and Zack Collins laced a two-run single later in the frame to make it 4-0.
Kevin Kiermaier cut the deficit to 4-2 in the top of the fifth with a two-run double, but the White Sox added three more runs in the botom half of the inning, with Yandy Diaz throwing away Brian Goodwin‘s sacrifice bunt attempt for an error, Andrew Vaughn‘s RBI double and Jake Lamb‘s run-scoring single.
Despite giving up seven runs in his start, Yarbrough would work into the seventh. Chris Mazza would finish the seventh, before J.P. Feyereisen and Diego Castillo each put up a scoreless inning of relief.
After Tampa Bay could not break the tie in the top of the tenth, Abreu moved Vaughn to third on a groundout against Pete Fairbanks, and Grandal singled off the right-field fence to end the game.
Tampa Bay next heads to the great northwest and a four-game series with the Seattle Mariners. Rich Hill (5-2, 3.38 ERA) will get the start against Justin Dunn (1-3, 3.91 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 10:10 Thursday evening.
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
