Mike Tauchman and Lenyn Sosa delivered two-run doubles in a five-run second inning and Andrew Benintendi homered to lift the host Chicago White Sox to a 6-5 victory against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.
Chicago (56-90) won for the eighth time in 10 games, holding on after thwarting the Rays’ impromptu bullpen day.
Tyler Gilbert struck out Brandon Lowe with two runners in scoring position to end the game and pick up his first career save. Grant Taylor started the ninth inning for Chicago but left with a strained groin after issuing a leadoff walk. Wikelman Gonzalez got the first two outs.
Tampa Bay (72-73) fell 5 games behind the Seattle Mariners in a crowded race for the third American League wild-card spot. Seattle played later on Wednesday.
With right-hander Ryan Pepiot scratched from his scheduled start due to fatigue, Tampa Bay used Griffin Jax as an opener for one inning before turning to lefty Mason Montgomery.
Montgomery (1-3) didn’t make it past the second despite retiring two of the first three White Sox he faced. Michael A. Taylor tied the game at 1 with a run-scoring double before Tauchman and Sosa lined separate two-run doubles to put Chicago ahead 5-1.
Sosa’s hit chased Montgomery after he allowed five runs and five hits in 2/3 of an inning with a walk and a strikeout.
Benintendi hit a solo homer in the third to extend the White Sox’s advantage to 6-1, but Tampa Bay roared back behind some home-run heroics of its own.
The Rays, who opened the scoring with Yandy Diaz’s solo shot against Sean Burke in the first inning, added another from Carson Williams leading off the fifth.
Brandon Eisert allowed Junior Caminero’s team-best 42nd home run, a two-run blast, later in the inning. That pulled the Rays within 6-4. Hunter Feduccia added an RBI single in the sixth to account for the final margin.
Diaz and Caminero had two hits apiece for the Rays. Tauchman doubled twice for Chicago.
Burke scattered three runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings with four walks and five strikeouts. He was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte before the game.
Jordan Leasure (5-6) pitched a scoreless sixth to earn the victory.
