On a day that the White Sox out hit the Rays five to three, the Rays got the hit that mattered, winning 4-2 and snapping their five game losing streak. Blake Snell scrapped his way through six scoreless, and the bullpen held on.
The Rays dodged a bullet in the first. With Snell fishing for the zone, the White Sox put two of the first three hitters on base, then pulled off a double steal to put runners on second and third. And when a breaking ball to McCann got away from d’Arnaud, it looked like the Sox were going to take the early lead. But thanks to a quick recovery from d’Arnaud and a nifty block of the plate by Snell, the Rays kept the Sox off the board.
Pitchers are athletes too. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/AKY7mOTObp
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 21, 2019
A strikeout of McCann got Blake out of the inning.
Snell didn’t exactly cruise the rest of the way, though he did keep Chicago off the board. In the third, a lead off single to Adam Engel, followed by two wild pitches, made things interesting. In the fifth, a one-out double to Yolmer Sanchez added some more spice. But Snell worked out of every jam, going six innings, giving up no runs on three hits and two walks while striking out ten.
On offense, the Rays were patient with Chicago starter Dylan Cease early, making the rookie come to them and forcing him to throw 65 pitches over the first two innings. And their patience paid off in the second. With nobody out, they worked two walks and a single to load the bases for Travis d’Arnaud. Cease then threw a 1-1 cement mixer. Guess what happened.
No ceasefire here. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/Cf0VbB8cQK
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 21, 2019
Mama, there goes that man again!
Hit ball 420 feet ✅
— DRaysBay (@draysbay) July 21, 2019
Nod to dugout ✅
Drop the bat ✅
Four runs score ✅ pic.twitter.com/Z4RFzFtzRp
Oh yeah. 4-0 Rays.
The Rays then spent most of the rest of the game befuddled by the White Sox pitchers. Meadows managed a two-out double in the second, but was stranded. Two baby threats in the middle innings were cut short by double plays.
The White Sox finally got on the board against Andrew Kittredge, who came on to work the seventh. It started when Kitt issued a one-out walk to pinch hitter Ryan Goins thanks to a tight zone. Yolmer Sanchez then lifted a drive high and deep to right center for a triple, scoring Goins. It was a ball the Kiermaier probably gets to. An RBI infield single by Engel made it 4-2. Kitt then bounced back to get a big strikeout looking of Ryan Cordell, and finished the inning by getting Leury Garcia to ground to Adames. Overall a better outing from Kittredge than his line looks.
Emilio Pagan came on to work the meat of the order in the eighth and struck out the side in order, getting Moncada looking, and Abreu and McCann swinging. Adam Kolarek (?!?) came on to close it and sat down the side in order — a wall-scraping flying to Wellington Castillo notwithstanding — ,picking up his first save of the season.
The Rays kick off a three game set against the Red Sox tomorrow at 7:10 PM.