In the eighth inning with the game tied at 2, Jake Burger made a bid to put the White Sox ahead with a deep drive to left field. Randy Arozarena looked like he had it tracked, and indeed, he made a relatively casual leaping catch at the wall to bring it back.
In the ninth inning with the game tied at 2, Isaac Paredes hit a deep drive to left off Kendall Graveman. It landed several rows deep and gave the Rays a 3-2 lead.
Graveman ended the inning by retiring the next three batters, two by strikeout. He punctuated it with a high kick and a scream of frustration.
I suppose it's progress that the White Sox had emotions riding in the ninth inning of a game. Graveman didn't make a bad pitch -- a sinker at the top of the zone isn't a good one by default, but it also had the inside corner. Paredes just put a better swing on it, and that was enough to steer the White Sox toward their ninth straight loss.
The White Sox did force Pete Fairbanks out of the game in the ninth inning, as Fairbanks drilled Andrew Benintendi on the elbow with two outs, then walked Andrew Vaughn. Charlie Montoyo emptied the bench by pinch-running Romy González for Vaughn, and Kevin Cash and a trainer came out to remove Fairbanks, but Kevin Kelly got Luis Robert Jr. to pop out to end the game.
Montoyo was managing because Pedro Grifol got tossed by Marvin Hudson for the second straight game. The ouster took place in the first, when Zach Eflin threw at Robert after a Vaughn solo shot tied the game at 1. Eflin might've taken offense to the White Sox's new home run celebration, which involves Elvis Andrus putting a customized black trenchcoat and hat on the returning slugger outside of the dugout. Hudson issued a warning to both benches, and Grifol argued that if Hudson detected a motive, he should've just tossed Eflin. Grifol got a fairly quick boot instead, and his second ejection was far more fiery than the first one.
Grifol also might've been frustrated by his own team in the top of the first, when the Sox allowed a sacrifice fly on a pop-up behind second base.
The Rays had runners on the corners with one out when Brandon Lowe hit what appeared to be harmless pop fly. Lenyn Sosa and Elvis Andrus tracked it, and Sosa ended up taking charge on the right side of the field. Andrus never went back to cover second, so Arozarena broke for the bag to take another 90 feet, with Vaughn in pursuit.
Sosa saw an opportunity to maybe get the ball to Vaughn for a tag. What he didn't see was the possibility of Yandy Diaz breaking for home as Sosa was distracted. Diaz guessed right, and he scored without a throw as Vaughn helplessly held the ball.
The other eight innings provided fairly standard pitching-duel fare. Burger hit a solo shot in the second inning to make it a 2-1 game, and the Rays tied it up in the fourth on Manuel Margot's two-out RBI single through the left side.
Lucas Giolito had a nice night, almost completing seven innings for the second straight start. He allowed two runs -- only one of which was deserved -- on eight hits, but he didn't walk anybody, and he struck out six. He departed with two outs in the seventh because Wander Franco was coming to the plate for the fourth time, and battled Giolito for 10 pitches the previous at-bat. Montoyo gave the ball to Reyanldo López instead, and López got the job done. He stranded the runner, then pitched a scoreless eighth to boot.
Eflin settled in as well, and managed to defuse the White Sox's best scoring threat in the fourth. They loaded the bases with one out after two singles and a walk, but Eflin struck out Sosa on a great 1-2 curveball, then got Benintendi to ground out.
Afterward, the Sox saw the more dangerous part of the Tampa Bay bullpen tonight, and their issues hitting relief pitchers returned. They managed just one single -- a Benintendi flare to center -- over the remaining four innings.
Bullet points:
*White Sox pitchers avoided walking a batter for the first time all year, and they didn't even hit one.
*Benintendi got drilled on the elbow by Fairbanks, but remained in the game and stole his second base of the night.
*Andrus also swiped a bag, so the Sox went 3-for-3 in that department.
*But the Sox also went 0-for-9 in the RISP department.
*Oscar Colás, who pinch-hit for Sosa and struck out in the ninth inning, probably would've played first base if the game moved into the 10th inning.
*The Sox will go the entire month of April without winning a series, because the best they can do is split this one.
