The White Sox overcame 32 swinging strikes against Shane McClanahan and a Dylan Cease who only could finish four innings. They finally scored in the late innings, with an eighth-inning pinch-hit homer from Gavin Sheets that tied the game at 3.
They're still going to leave St. Petersburg with a series loss -- at best -- because they couldn't convert in extra innings.
Pedro Grifol made his last possible bench move by running Oscar Colás for Yasmani Grandal to start the 10th, but he didn't advance. Seby Zavala grounded out to the left side, Lenyn Sosa struck out and Elvis Andrus flied out, which meant that Randy Arozarena's one-out single to right field was enough to keep the Rays undefeated at home, and the White Sox thoroughly defeated in series. They're now 0-6-1 on the year.
The White Sox only totaled five hits, but three of them left the yard. Eloy Jiménez homered for the second straight game in the second inning, Grandal blistered a laser out to center in the fifth, and Gavin Sheets came off the bench for Romy González and tomahawked a clavicle-high fastball out to right for a rare road homer.
All it accomplished was getting Cease off the hook. The Rays wore him out for 101 pitches over four innings and two batters in the fifth, thanks to 24 foul balls. He gave up a two-run shot to Arozarena in the first, and he departed after giving up two singles to start the fifth.
Keynan Middleton inherited runners on the corners, but Zavala erased one of them by cutting down Wander Franco on his attempt to steal second (I imagine Grandal would've faked the throw were he behind the plate).
Arozarena remained at the plate, though, and he did all the damage, bouncing a single through the left side to give the Rays a 3-2 lead. An errant pickoff attempt to Middleton allowed him to advance to third, but because Arozarena wasn't at the plate, nobody could drive him in.
The White Sox bullpen once again stepped up in regulation after one of two of Middleton's inherited runners scores. He completed the fifth, Gregory Santos handled the sixth and seventh, Kendall Graveman pitched a perfect eighth (while working on consecutive days), and Reynaldo López rebounded from his blown save with a perfect ninth. Because the White Sox struggle with sequencing events, this flawless inning didn't close out a win. It only delayed a loss.
Bullet points:
*The White Sox whiffed on 14 of 16 swings against McClanahan's changeup, seven of eight swings on his curveball, and six of 11 swings on his slider.
*Santos keyed a strong defensive inning in the sixth, blocking a comebacker and flipping to first in time for the first out, then beating Josh Lowe to first on a 3-1 putout. Jake Burger closed out the inning with a lacrosse-like barehanded play on a bouncer.
