Chicago Flexen on ‘em - Rays 4, White Sox 9
Yandy Diaz HBP emphasizes a bad night in Chicago.
On a cold, rainy, and blustery day, the Rays would fall to the three-win White Sox on a nationally televised game, carried by Apple TV+.
The field was surprisingly playable, as the grounds crew was literally sweeping buckets of water with rubber brooms, and it was playball when the sun peaked through just before game time, but the elements would strike here and there, like when Caballero feet slid out from under him while on the outfield grass in the sixth.
Chris Flexen, and his 6.41 ERA entering this game after pitching as a bulk guy this season,
Yandy Diaz — back in lead off, thank God — led the game with a stand up double, but the Rays were out of the frame in ten pitches on popups, indicative of how this game would go for the offense as Flexen mixed his pitches well and kept the Rays bats guessing all night, something Cash validated after the game, per Marc Topkin:
“I don’t think we had the best approach (Friday) with Flexen,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We probably expanded off more pitches off the zone. Even early in the count, it seemed like we were overly aggressive. Maybe that’s a sign of an offensive group that’s recognizing they’re not doing what they’re capable of, and they were probably trying to do too much [...]”
Everything was working, the Rays were swinging (the fifth frame was seven pitches long), and it honestly looked like Flexen was in line for a Maddux, at least until he left the game in the seventh inning.
Zach Eflin, who should be pitching like an ace, started the game with back to back singles allowed — with the second batted from newly added Tommy Pham, who immediately became the White Sox No. 2 hitter — but Eflin buckled in, cruising until Pham returned, when Curtis Mead threw over Yandy Diaz’s head, allowing Pham on base.
Somehow, this rattled Eflin. He’d entered this game with two walks allowed on the season, but walked the next two White Sox, and allowing a run to score on a fly ball. In the fourth, another run would score on back to back liners up the left field line, making it 2-0 CWS.
Another hit allowed and up next was Martin Maldonado, who I assume at this point is the face of the franchise for Chicago, and who was also hitless in his last 28 at bats. You’ll never guess what happened next.
Eflin tried an 0-1 fastball down the middle, and Maldonado mutilated it.
Tip of the cap to the fan who caught the ball in his hat.
You would have been forgiven for turning off the game then, but the White Sox made the potentially fatal error of sitting their sizzling starter, and the Rays were back in the business.
Caballero got it started with a one out single in the seventh, and Pinto brought him home on a flyball that bounced off the right field bullpen wall, making it CWS 5, TB 1.
Tampa Bay then loaded the bases, and with two outs in the seventh (and yet another reliever on the mound) Amed Rosario worked a four pitch walk to bring in the second Rays run, and the Rays could have done more, but Paredes was reaching defending a two-strike count and tapped one to third base.
The Rays weren’t done fighting, Jose Siri picked up a much-needed RBI single in the midst of a cold spell in the eighth, but with two on and two out for the top of the order, Yandy Diaz got a 99 mph fastball up and in from Kopech that caught him on the hand at the bottom of his bat.
Brutal, particularly in the cold. X-rays would be negative after the game, and per Topkin, Diaz expected to be available to pinch hit the next game.
Erasmo Ramirez would relieve Eflin in the bottom of the seventh, which itself was indicative of how the night was going for the Rays, allowing a two-run homerun in that frame, a bases loaded RBI fly out the next inning, and yet another run on a wild pitch making it 9-3.
Mead would pick up an RBI in garbage time, if you will, and the game was done with a 9-4 score on a miserable night.
At a record of 13-14 the Rays are back below .500 for the first time since April 8, and face the four-win White Sox twice more (Saturday at 7:10, Sunday at 2:10) before the roadtrip continues to Milwaukee, who currently have 17 wins on the season.