Paul DeJong homered for the second straight game to take over the team lead, and this time it counted for something beyond stat-padding.
DeJong's two-run homer off Aaron Civale in the fifth inning put the White Sox ahead 2-1, and a stout effort from the White Sox pitching staff -- particularly Chris Flexen and John Brebbia -- made sure they wouldn't relinquish the lead. As a result, the White Sox avoided the sweep in St. Petersburg, and in doing so, won the season series from the Rays.
The left side of the White Sox of the infield literally made the difference, in the sense that DeJong and Bryan Ramos combined to score three runs and drive in three. Ramos' double preceded DeJong's homer in the fifth. An inning later, Ramos followed Andrew Benintendi's leadoff double with a seeing-eye bouncer through the right side for an RBI single.
Ramos took third on Paul Dejong's single, and while he was cut down at the plate by 15 feet on Braden Shewmake's routine grounder to a drawn-in second baseman and Martín Maldonado struck out, Tommy Pham came through with a single to score DeJong for a 4-1 lead.
Chris Flexen set down the Rays in order to complete six strong innings, but Steven Wilson opened the seventh by walking Isaac Paredes to jeopardize the evening. He got Amed Rosario to fly out, but walked Jonny DeLuca to bring the tying run to the plate. Pedro Grifol went to the mound and called for Brebbia, who got Josh Lowe to hit a lazy fly ball down the right field line.
Paredes misread the laziness of the fly, because about halfway down the line, he decided that there was no way Gavin Sheets was going to close the distance. But the ball took its time coming down, and Sheets was able to catch it without leaving his feet. He prepared to make a throw with intent to the cutoff man before realizing that he could bounce a throw to second, because Paredes had already rounded third before realizing that Sheets made the play.
Brebbia then handled the eighth by himself, and Michael Kopech the ninth to lock in the victory for Flexen, who deserved it.
Flexen pitched six strong innings, striking out eight while allowing just three hits and a walk, and all of those hits came in the fourth. Paredes drew blood with a one-out RBI double to left that another left fielder besides Andrew Benintendi might've caught, which drove in Yandy Díaz and put runners on second and third for Amed Rosario. The White Sox pulled the infield in and profited, because when Rosario smashed one to short, DeJong caught it before it hit the ground, foiling Harold Ramírez's anticipation of a contact play. DeJong flipped to Ramos at third for the easy 6-5 double play, and the first of two costly TOOTBLANs on the evening. The White Sox turned three double plays, but only one of them was conventional.
Bullet points:
*Ramos played a strong game, but showed a little bit of rookie eagerness by nearly bowling over Martín Maldonado on a pop-up near home plate. Maldonado was able to secure the catch despite the distraction.
*Maldonado also made a catch over the railing, and over the Tampa Bay TV crew stationed behind the on-deck circle.
*Maldonado's average dropped back below .100 after going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
*The Rays took six of seven against the White Sox last year.
