The Chicago White Sox wasted no time turning Friday night into a power show, and the Tampa Bay Rays never found a way to slow it down.
Miguel Vargas, Andrew Benintendi and Munetaka Murakami each went deep in the first three innings, and Colson Montgomery later added a two-run blast as the White Sox opened their six-game road trip with a 6-1 win over the Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Every run in the game came on a home run.
Vargas set the tone immediately, jumping on the first pitch he saw in the opening inning and sending it 433 feet to left field for his 23rd homer. Benintendi followed in the second, lining a 1-2 pitch off the catwalk above right field for his 11th of the season, an estimated 405-foot shot. Then Murakami added more separation in the third, driving a two-run homer to left for a 4-0 Chicago lead.
Murakami finished 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs, while Benintendi had two hits and a walk.
The Rays finally answered in the fourth when Junior Caminero unloaded on Erick Fedde’s 3-2 pitch, sending it 453 feet to center off the D-ring, the farthest catwalk in play from home plate. It was a massive solo shot, and it put Caminero alongside Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena and Brandon Lowe as the only Rays with multiple 30-homer seasons. Caminero also walked twice, and Tampa Bay managed only five hits overall.
But Chicago kept swinging. In the sixth, Montgomery became the third White Sox hitter to homer off a hanging walkway, crushing a two-run shot off a support beam above right field to push the lead to 6-1.
Fedde earned the win, improving to 6-6 after giving up one run on four hits over five innings. He struck out six.
Nick Martinez took the loss for Tampa Bay and was tagged for six runs on seven hits in six innings, with all four White Sox home runs coming against him. He struck out two.
The Rays entered the night having gone 15-12 in July, enough to keep them barely ahead of the New York Yankees in the AL East.
Tyler Schweitzer helped close the door for Chicago, throwing three scoreless innings. He then struck out pinch hitter Ryan Vilade with two runners on in the eighth to end Tampa Bay’s best remaining scoring chance.
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The appeal is obvious for a Rays team that values contact, versatility and run creation in the margins. Philadelphia, Boston and Texas are also said to be in the mix, so Tampa Bay is not alone here, but any move that adds that kind of bat would reshape the conversation around the lineup in a hurry. For now, it is a matter of whether the Rays can turn a strong position into an actual deal. [Read more 🡒]
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Hicks is expected to give the Rays more flexibility behind the plate and in the defensive alignment, while also adding some offense to a lineup that can always use another productive bat. For a club that has spent the week making clear it wants more depth and more options, this is the kind of move that could matter in more ways than one, especially once the full catching picture comes into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Just Missed On A Deadline Target That Could Sting
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For the Rays, the larger takeaway may be less about what the Phillies gained than where this particular player ended up. Arraez had been a name on Tampa Bays radar, and for a while the club looked like it had a real shot to bring him in before the deal swung in another direction. In a deadline market built on thin margins and fast decisions, missing on a target like that can linger, especially when the player fits so neatly into the kind of lineup the Rays like to build. [Read more 🡒]