Rays 9, White Sox 3: Earned the Easter W!

Happy Easter! The Rays look to try and avoid being swept by the White Sox, and they’ll have JP Feyereisen open against Chicago starter Vince Velasquez.

Wander Franco and Randy Arozarena hit back-to-back singles with one out to begin the first inning. Ji-Man Choi walked, loading the bases for Yandy Diaz. What does the guy with the best eye on the team do? Draw a walk, making it 1-0 Rays.

Josh Lowe was next, and he reached on a fielding error by Vince Velasquez, which resulted in Randy scoring to make it 2-0. Manuel Margot drove another run home with a line drive single to right, and Kevin Kiermaier drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 4-0. Francisco Mejia struck out and Brandon Lowe grounded out to end the big first inning.

JP Feyereisen took the mound, and on the first batter he saw, he received exceptional defense from Josh Lowe, who robbed Tim Anderson of a home run.

Feyereisen got a lineout and a strikeout to end his perfect first inning. Randy hit a double in the top of the second, but was stranded on base.

Feyereisen looked sharp again in the second, striking out two White Sox and once again allowing no hits. His day was done after two innings of work and 28 pitches thrown, he had 3 K’s and didn’t allow anything against him.

Chris Mazza entered the game in the bottom of the third after an uneventful top-half of the inning. Mazza walked Adam Engel with two outs, Engel stole second, and was stranded when Tim Anderson grounded out to end the inning.

After another quiet inning for the Rays offense, Mazza came back out for the fourth, where he was less-than-sharp, but sharp enough to only allow one run. He allowed a one-out single to Jose Abreu, walked Yasmani Grandal and walked Eloy Jimenez. With the bases loaded, he hit Gavin Sheets. A strikeout and a groundout escaped the jam, sending this to the fifth.

Tanner Banks was brought in to pitch for Chicago with two outs in the inning, and he struck out Josh Lowe to send it to the bottom-half, where Mazza took the mound for his third inning of work.

Adam Engel hit a leadoff single, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Mazza walked Tim Anderson and Anderson stole second with one out. Mazza loaded the bases by walking Jose Abreu, and that marked the end of his day. Jalen Beeks relieved Mazza, who threw 62 pitches (31 strikes), allowed two hits, walked five and struck out one.

Beeks got the second out on a Grandal popout, but a passed ball scored the second White Sox run. Mejia allowed a second passed ball, and Tim Anderson tried scoring on it, but he was tagged out to end the inning with the 4-2 Rays lead in tact.

Manuel Margot hit a leadoff double to start the sixth, but was stranded on base. Beeks stayed out for the bottom of the sixth, and he worked a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. His day was done after the sixth, as Ryan Thompson entered to relieve him. Thompson also pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

The Rays blew this one open in the top of the eighth. Facing Matt Foster, Manuel Margot drew a one-out walk, bringing Anderson Severino in to pitch. Kevin Kiermaier was hit by a pitch, putting two on for Francisco Mejia. Both runners moved up on an errant pickoff attempt, and both runners scored on a Mejia single to right.

Mejia scored on a two-out double by Wander Franco, and Wander scored on a double by Arozarena, making it 8-2 Rays.

Ji-Man Choi struck out to end the inning, and Tommy Romero took the mound for the Rays in the bottom of the eighth. Romero threw the third-straight 1-2-3 inning for the Rays, striking out two White Sox in the process.

Kyle Crick entered the game for Chicago, relieving Severino. With one out, Josh Lowe, Manuel Margot and Kevin Kiermaier hit back-to-back-to-back singles, scoring Lowe and making it 9-2. Francisco Mejia lined into a double play to end the inning, bringing Tommy Romero back out to close this one.

Eloy Jimenez flew out for the first out, but Gavin Sheets homered to make it 9-3. Josh Harrison flew out for the second out, and Romero struck out Jake Burger to end this one.

The Rays avoided the sweep and got back to .500 with today’s win against the White Sox. They’ll stay in Chicago for their next series but will head on up to Addison Street to begin a three-game series against the Cubs. Shane McClanahan will start tomorrow against Kyle Hendricks with first pitch scheduled for 7:40 pm.