Randy Arozarena and Manuel Margot each had three hits and Chris Mazza earned his first win of 2022 pitching 2 1/3 innings of relief as the Tampa Bay Rays broke their four-game losing streak with a 9-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox Sunday afternoon.
Tampa Bay jumped on White Sox starter Vince Velasquez for four runs in the top of the first, loading the bases on hits from Wander Franco and Arozarena and a walk to Ji-Man Choi. Yandy Diaz made it 1-0 with a walk that forced in a run. A fielding error by Velasquez on a ground ball by Josh Lowe made it 2-0. Manuel Margot’s RBI single pushed the lead to 3-0, and Kevin Kiermaier’s bases loaded walk extended the advantage to 4-0.
J.P. Feyereisen opened the game with two perfect innings, helped by Lowe robbing Tim Anderson of a home run in the first, and Mazza put up a zero in the third. But in the fourth, he gave up a base hit to Jose Abreu and walks to Yasmani Grandal and Eloy Jimenez before hitting Gavin Sheets with a pitch to force in a run.
Mazza would load the bases again in the fifth, with a single to Adam Engle and walks to Anderson and Abreu. Jalen Beeks got Grandal to pop out for the second out of the inning, but a passed ball by Francisco Mejia brought in an unearned run, though Tampa Bay was able to get out of the frame on a another ball in the dirt that Anderson was thrown out at the plate.
The game remained 4-2 until the eighth, when Matt Foster walked Margot with one out and hit Kiermaier with a pitch. After an errant pickoff throw, Mejia drove in both runners with a single, then scored on a double by Franco. Arozarena made it 8-2 with a double of his own.
Kiermaier added an RBI single in the ninth to make it 9-2.
Sheets added a solo homer off Tommy Romero in the bottom of the ninth, setting the score.
The win gets the Rays back to .500 on the season at 5-5.
Tampa Bay will switch to the North Side of the city for its next series, taking on the Chicago Cubs. Shane McClanahan (0-1, 3.00 ERA) will get the start, taking on Kyle Hendricks (0-1, 7.00 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:40.
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.
