Andrew Benintendi went 3-for-5 with six RBIs and drilled a game-ending two-run home run in the 10th inning to propel the host Chicago White Sox to an 8-7 victory Saturday against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Benintendi connected against Phil Maton (0-2), who blew the save after the Rays scored a run against Deivi Garcia (1-2) in the top half. The White Sox have won consecutive games for the first time this season while securing their first series win.
Automatic runner Curtis Mead advanced to third on a wild pitch during the first at-bat of the Tampa Bay 10th. He scored on another wild pitch three batters later, moments after Garcia worked back from a 3-0 count to strike out Niko Goodrum for the second out of the inning.
Eloy Jimenez and Tommy Pham had two hits apiece for Chicago. Richie Palacios and Ben Rortvedt each had three hits for the Rays.
Chicago reliever Steven Wilson stranded the bases loaded in the eighth in an inning that started when Rortvedt’s apparent home run was overturned to a single on replay review. Wilson induced infield flies from Randy Arozarena and Isaac Paredes to end the threat.
Tampa Bay scored the first run of the game on Jose Caballero’s RBI single in the second inning.
Palacios extended the Rays’ lead to 3-0 with a two-run home run in the fourth.
Benintendi tied the game for the White Sox with a three-run blast in the bottom half, his first home run of the season.
The power surge continued with the Rays’ Austin Stenton’s solo homer, his first in the majors, in the top of the fifth, but the lead was short-lived. The White Sox scored three more runs in the fifth, with a Gavin Sheets RBI double and Benintendi RBI single to go with a fielder’s choice.
Tampa Bay tied the game again on Arozarena’s two-run double in the sixth.
Neither starter factored into the decision. The Rays’ Aaron Civale scattered six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings with three strikeouts. Chicago counterpart Jonathan Cannon worked five innings, allowing four runs and eight hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
The Rays removed center fielder Jose Siri from the game in the third inning. The team said the move was not injury-related.
–Field Level Media