The Tampa Bay Rays fell below .500 for the first time in the 2022 season, as the Chicago White Sox took advantage of a Taylor Walls error which led to Yasmani Grandal‘s RBI single that broke a 2-2 tie, giving the White Sox taking a 3-2 decision for the second straight game.
Tampa Bay jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first, with Brandon Lowe drawing a walk from Michael Kopech, moving to third on a base hit by Randy Arozarena coupled with an error by Josh Harrison, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Harold Ramirez.
Corey Kluber retired the first nine hitters he faced in order, but in the fourth Tim Anderson reached on an infield single, moved to second on an errant pickoff throw and scored when Jose Abreu got ahold of a hanging breaking ball from Kluber and sent it into the seats in left-center for his first home run of the year.
The Rays got back even in the sixth, as Wander Franco led off with a double off Reynaldo Lopez. Arozarena followed up by striking out (and being ejected for flipping his bat at the called third strike), and Ramirez moved Franco to third with a lineout to center. Lopez then walked Yandy Diaz and Manuel margot came up and delievred a base hit that tied the game. Diaz used aggressive base running to get to third base, but when the ball got away from Harrison, he tried to score the go-ahead run and was thrown out at the plate.
But the White Sox took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning against Ryan Thompson, with Luis Robert reaching on Walls’ error, stealing second base, moving to third on a flyout by Abreu, and scoring on Grandal’s base hit through a drawn-in shifted infield.
The Rays had a chance to bring in the tying run in the ninth, as Ramirez led off against closer Liam Hendriks with a base hit. Pinch-runner Kevin Kiermaier moved to second on a wild pitch, but Diaz grounded back to the box, and Hendriks threw out Kiermaier at third base for the first out of the inning. Margot floew out for the second out of the inning, and Brett Phillips moved Diaz to third with a single of his own. Ji-Man Choi was brought in to pinch-hit for Mike Zunino, and would be eventually walked intentionally to load the bases for Hendriks to face Walls, who he struck out to end the game.
Tampa Bay will need a win Sunday afternoon to try and prevent being swept on the South Side. The Rays will go with a bullpen day starting with right-hander J.P. Feyereisen (0-0, 0.00 ERA) taking on Vince Velasquez (0-0, 2.25 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 2:10.
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.
