Saturday night in Chicago, Rays pitchers allowed four home runs in a 5-4 loss to the White Sox but more importantly the team will have to wait a few days to find out about a potential serious injury to starting pitcher Chris Archer.
Archer left the game in the bottom of the 1st, after just eight pitches & after he allowed the back to back home runs to Hanson then Sanchez, the first two White Sox batters of the night. The Rays officially announced Archer left the game with right lateral forearm tightness & his removal was precautionary.
The White Sox final home run of the night came in the seventh when Rays pitcher Ryne Stanek came in to face Avasail Garcia, who hammered a two run home run to give Chicago a 5-2 cushion. The Rays chipped into the White Sox lead in the eighth when Adeiny Hechevarria followed Peter Bourjos’ two out double with an RBI single. And then loaded the bases in the ninth but the White Sox turned a double play on a Evan Longoria ground ball & with Longoria, the tying run at second, Logan Morrison struck out to end the game.
Trailing 2-0 early, the Rays added a run in the top of the third when Kevin Kiermaier hit a one out double, & Steven Souza Jr followed that with a walk. Then the Rays outfielders pulled off a double steal with Longoria at the plate. After the double steal, Longoria hit a short fly ball to right, which was deep enough for Kiermaier to score on.
The White Sox doubled their lead in the bottom of the fourth when Catcher Omar Narvaez hit Chicago’s third solo home run of the night, this one off of Austin Pruitt, who pitched three plus innings after Archer left the game. Pruitt lasted until the game was delayed one hour & eighteen minutes two batters after Narvaez’s home run. Once play resumed, the Rays went to the pen again with Brad Boxberger being their third pitcher of the night. Boxberger struck out the only batter he faced in the bottom fourth, then allowed one hit but recorded three strikeouts in the bottom of the fifth, his only other inning.
After Boxberger pitched a scoreless inning plus, the Rays cut the deficit back to one again when Morrison led off the top of the sixth with a solo home run, his 35th of the season & sixth home run in the last six games. The next Rays threat came in the top of the seventh when Danny Espinosa & Kiermaier hit singles but former Rays pitcher Danny Farquhar got Souza Jr to pop out & Longoria to fly out to strand runners at first & third.
The Rays try for their third series win & sixth win overall on this road trip when Matt Andriese 5-1 3.38 gets the ball on Sunday vs Chicago. Coverage starts on 620 WDAE at noon with the Inside Pitch hosted by Steve Carney & is followed by the Rays Radio Network Coverage beginning at 12:30pm.