For most of the night this looked like a tight, low-scoring game. Then the ninth inning arrived, and the Chicago White Sox turned it into a laugher. Chicago scored four times in the final frame to close out a 9-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CWS | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 2 |
| TB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 2 |
Anthony Kay was the difference for six-plus innings. The right-hander worked 6.1 innings, allowing 7 hits but no runs, striking out 3 and walking 1. He improved to 8-5 on the season with a 4.01 ERA. Everson Pereira supplied the loudest bat, going 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and 4 RBIs, while Miguel Vargas added a solo-plus homer of his own, finishing 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs.
Chicago's scoring started early and simply kept coming. Sam Antonacci scored in the first inning on a fielding error by Rays pitcher Griffin Jax, and Colson Montgomery reached third on the same play before scoring moments later when Jax uncorked a wild pitch. Andrew Benintendi added a solo homer to right center in the fourth. In the sixth, Everson Pereira doubled to left to bring home both Chase Meidroth and Tristan Peters. Then in the ninth, Pereira crushed a two-run homer to center to score Meidroth, and Miguel Vargas followed with a two-run shot to left center that brought in Acuña, pushing the score to 9-0 before Tampa Bay's Ben Williamson answered with a solo homer to left in the bottom half.
Griffin Jax took the loss for Tampa Bay, allowing 3 runs (1 earned) over 5.0 innings with 8 strikeouts and no walks, falling to 6-9. The Rays bullpen could not stop the bleeding either, combining for 4.0 innings and 6 runs behind him. Chandler Simpson went 3-for-3 for Tampa Bay, but the Rays managed just the single run off Williamson's ninth-inning homer.
The result dropped Tampa Bay to 65-46, snapping their momentum with a first loss after a win. Chicago improved to 59-52, riding the win after having dropped its previous game.