After the White Sox's extra-inning loss to the Rays on Saturday, Dylan Cease said after the game, "They’re playing extremely well. They're good at not beating themselves. We’ve hung in there. They’re definitely beatable, we’ve just got to do it."
Reader, they didn't do it.
If you give the Rays three games, they'll probably flat outplay you in one of them. And because the Sox blew a multi-run cushion in the ninth on Friday and failed to score in the 10th inning on Saturday, they invited the Rays to finish the sweep due to the talent discrepancy alone.
That's what happened today. Lucas Giolito pitched decently, and he at least delivered the White Sox's longest start of the year by completing seven innings. But he allowed a two-run homer during a three-run second, then another solo shot in the third, and the White Sox never brought the tying run to the plate the rest of the way.
The Sox only mounted one promising threat, when Andrew Benintendi and Eloy Jiménez doubled off the base of the wall for the first Chicago run in the top of the fourth. That turned out to be the only run, because Zach Eflin, Yonny Chirinos and Pete Fairbanks exacerbated the White Sox's flaws. They allowed just three hits, didn't walk anybody and induced 13 groundouts alongside seven strikeouts. Consequently, they combined to throw just 117 pitches, and that total felt higher than the game suggested.
Luis Robert Jr. led off the game with one of those three hits, stole second, advanced to third when Christian Bethancourt's throw bounced into center field ... and then he was stranded by an Andrew Vaughn groundout and a Jiménez strikeout.
The Rays seized control of the game in the second when Luke Raley followed an HBP of Isaac Paredes with a two-run homer on a hanging first-pitch changeup. Bethancourt then doubled and came around to score on a pair of productive outs, and that lead was never challenged.
Giolito gave up an opposite-field homer to Harold Ramirez in the third, but settled down to retire 13 of the last 14 Rays he faced. The Rays only had five hits, and three walks isn't a notable total, either. You can say Giolito spared the bullpen, but that's small solace if it doesn't set up winning efforts when the Sox head to Toronto.
Bullet points:
*The White Sox played an errorless game. Jake Burger looked comfortable defensively, and Seby Zavala cut down a runner at second.
*The Rays played a better game defensively around Bethancourt's error, with Paredes making a couple plays behind third base to take away hits. Probably singles, but still.
*This game is the new clubhouse leader for fastest White Sox game of the pitch clock era, coming in at 2 hours, 2 minutes.
