One Big Inning Enough For Rays To Take Down White Sox 4-3 on Tuesday

TAMPA, Fla. — Baseball isn't like gymnastics or diving. Judges don't determine the winner, runs do. And even winning ugly is not a bad thing. That was certainly the case for the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.

The Rays scored four runs in the second inning against Chicago White Sox starter Davis Martin, and hit one ball out of the infield during the rally. They took advantage of three walks, a balk and a throwing error, and scored the fourth run on a ground out to the pitcher.

That was all they needed in the 4-3 victory, and it was a good thing because they didn't do anything the rest of the day, never getting another runner past second base.

So what. A win is a win, and right now the 53-49 Rays will take whatever they can get.

"We need wins right now and we'll take whatever we can get,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Any way we can do it, we'll take it. If you've got to be opportunitistic with good at-bats and finding a hole when guys are on base, great. If we slug like we did the first game out of the break, great. We're happy we won.''

The Rays only had five hits all night, and Jose Caballero drove in two runs with that second-inning single to center with the bases loaded, and Taylor Walls had an RBI on his 55-foot dribbler to the mound.

Drew Rasmussen, who's been on an innings limit since June 25 and has only thrown eight innings in four outings, got the start Tuesday and was terrific early. He retired his first nine batters in order, but ran into some trouble in the fourth. He gave up a double, two singles and a walk to start the inning, and then the White Sox scored their second run on a sacrifice fly. It took 32 pitches to get out of the inning, which pushed him to 75 total and his night was done.

"I thought Drew's stuff was good. Drew was pitching right to the edges a couple of times and I give the White Sox credit. They drove his pitch count up,'' Cash said. "We were going to go five innings or 75 pitches, whatever comes first.''

It was on the bullpen to cover the last five innings, and they did it. Edwin Uceta pitched the fifth and sixth innings without allowing a run, giving up just two hits. Bryan Baker gave up a solo home run to rookie Colson Montgomery in the seventh, but that was it, and the Rays closed out the game with a scoreless eighth by Garrett Cleavinger and a perfect ninth from Pete Fairbanks for his 17th save of he year. He has covered 17 of 20 save opportunities.

The win snapped a modest two-game losing streak after winning the first two games out of the break. They are now 6.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays, who lost 5-4 to the New York Yankees Tuesday night. The Boston Red Sox lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, so now the Rays are just a half-game out of the wild-card race.

It was nice to see more Rasmussen dominance, and to have the chains taken off a bit. He's the ace of this staff at the moment .,...

"I thought I was pretty good today, all things considered,'' Rasmussen said. "I thought I executed pretty well and competed in out of the strike zone pretty well. The pitch count, that was to be expected. I thought I executed better than the results are going to say (in the fourth inning), but that's the way baseball works sometimes. I'm not going to lose too much sleep on it, because I thought I was pretty good, for the most part.''

This was Rasmussen's 20th start of the season, and he's got a 7-5 record. He's allowed two runs or less in 15 of his 20 starts. Cash and pitching coach Kyle Snyder keep a tight leash on Rasmussen, who's had three elbow surgeries, but the four short outings have served their purpose. Heading down the home stretch, he'll pitch longer into games. They'll be careful, of course, but they also need their best pitcher on the mound.

"I felt really good (physically,'' Rasmussen said. "It would have been nice to finish the outing the way I started it, obviously, but it's a team over there that controls the strike zone. Anything can happen when a ball's in play.

"A 30-pitch inning is long for sure, and you are a little bit more fatigued,'' Rasmussen said. "But I feel good now and I felt like I was in a good spot too after that fourth inning and 75 (pitches). The way it unfolded and not covering the fifth for the guys in the bullpen kind of sucks, but other than that, physically I feel like I'm in a nice spot.''

Rasmussen also liked watching the bullpen perform so well in the back half of the game, especially with a small lead.

"It is unfortunate that going into the break it wasn't perfect, but those guys, we lean on them so heavily and they're so good over the course of the entirity of the season. Nobody was worried. There is just so much quality down there. There's never any fear that they aren't going to be good for us.''

There was some Rays history made Tuesday night. Rookie center fielder Chandler Simpson stole three bases and now has 30 on the season. That breaks the Rays rookie record of 27 set by Rocco Baldelli.

The Rays will try to win the series on Wednesday night, with Taj Bradley taking the mound against Chicago's Jonathan Cannon. The game starts at 7:35 p.m. ET, weather permitting.