For somebody who entered this game having done a whole lot of nothing, Andrew Benintendi did a whole lot of damage tonight.
Benintendi, whose previous single-game high in RBIs in a White Sox uniform was three, doubled that total tonight. He also doubled his single-game high in homers for the White Sox with two, and both boasted leverage, for his first homer was a three-run shot that tied the game, and his second was a two-run blast that walked it off.
He came to the plate in the 10th with Rafael Ortega on third with one out after Andrew Vaughn's bouncer to the right side moved the Manfred Man 90 feet. It only took one pitch to end it. Phil Maton threw a lazy sweeper on the inner half, and Benintendi uncoiled for a no-doubt shot that sent John Schriffen into SlamBall Mode.
Benintendi's blast cemented the White Sox's first consecutive wins of the year, and provided an authoritative end to a goofy game, as the Rays took the lead in the top of the inning when Deivi García spiked a curveball to start his inning, then spiked another one with two outs to bring the go-ahead run home. After the literal smoke cleared, he got the win for the effort, and with a lower ERA.
And while Benintendi ended the game, he also made it a game in the fourth. The White Sox trailed 3-0 against Aaron Civale when the Sox opened the inning with a pair of singles. The latter base hit, an Andrew Vaughn one-hopper, could've been a fielder's choice, but José Caballero didn't realize the out at second was available when he knocked the ball down, and fired across the diamond instead.
Benintendi took advantage of the extra baserunner by lofting a 1-0 plate-splitting cutter just over the wall in right-center for a game-tying blast, and that's when it started getting weird.
The Rays retook the lead in the top of the fifth when Austin Shenton's opposite-field drive to left kept carrying and cleared the left-field wall by a matter of a couple feet, but the White Sox answered with a couple of opposite-field successes of their own. After Nicky Lopez and Tommy Pham reached on singles, Gavin Sheets sliced an automatic double over the left-field wall to knot the game at 4, although Pham had to hold at third.
Pham eventually scored, not on Eloy Jiménez's grounder to a drawn-in shortstop, but on Vaughn's grounder to a drawn-in second baseman. He got a walking lead, a clean break, and beat Amed Rosario's throw home to give the Sox the lead. Sheets advanced to third on the fielder's choice, which allowed him to score when Benintendi's popup to shallow center got hung up by the wind and turned into a popup to shallow left, dropping for a single with zero defenders within reach.
Yet Cannon was saddled with the no-decision because the Rays found two runs their own way. Dominic Leone walked Ben Rortvedt to start the sixth, and just when it looked like Rortvedt might stay there after a couple of flyouts, he made his way around the bases via White Sox sloppiness. He stole second with a good jump on Leone and a drop by Martín Maldonado, and then Richie Palacios hit a chopper to first that Andrew Vaughn fielded. He flipped softly to Leone just as Leone aborted his mission to cover first base two steps from the bag, and the Rays had runners on the corners.
Palacios then stole second, and Randy Arozarena, who'd been late on every fastball, found an inside-corner slider that he could muscle down the left-field line for two runs that tied the game.
The Rays had better chances to win it before extras. Opening the eighth, Steven Wilson nearly gave up a go-ahead solo shot to Rortvedt, whose drive to right field missed Gavin Sheets' mitt, but bounced off the yellow padding of the right-field wall and back into play. It was originally ruled a homer, but a review overturned it, and Rortvedt was placed at first. The White Sox then risked squandering the good fortune when Paul DeJong bobbled a slow chopper to short, and a Niko Goodrum sac bunt put runners on second and third with one out.
Three pitches later, the inning was over. Randy Arozarena and Isaac Paredes both swung at sweepers worth swinging at, but they both popped out to Vaughn to end the inning. The ninth inning had its own threat with a Michael Kopech leadoff walk, but he erased it by getting Rosario to half-swing into a 4-6-3 double play. It wasn't particularly impressive work by the White Sox bullpen, what with five walks (two intentional) over five innings, but the wobbles ultimately added to the indignity of Tampa Bay's frustrating April.
Bullet points:
*Cannon showed some mettle by going five innings despite giving up eight hits, and half of them for extra bases. He stranded the bases loaded in the second by striking out Arozarena on the 27th pitch of the inning, limiting the Rays to one run, which helped when Palacios hit a two-run shot with two outs in the fourth. He still has problems against lefties, but his willingness to challenge them allowed him to stay in the game.
*Just like that, Benintendi is sporting a .501 OPS. He raised his slugging percentage from .191 to .277.
*Lopez stole his first base of the season on his fifth attempt, but it was a clean steal after a leadoff walk that gave the Sox three chances to end it in regulation. Pham popped out, Sheets grounded out and Jiménez struck out.
*Both teams had chances aplenty. The White Sox went 4-for-18 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven, while the Rays were 5-for-16 with 11 left on base.
*The attendance was 28,009 thanks to a hockey jersey giveaway, so the White Sox picked a good night to put on a show.
Record: 5-22 | Box score | Statcast
