The White Sox struck first in the bottom of the third inning. Tommy Pham reached second on a throwing error, followed by back-to-back walks for Robbie Grossman and Eloy Jiménez. Andrew Vaughn hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Pham and giving the White Sox a 1–0 lead.
Danny Mendick led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a double to left field. DeJong followed suit with an RBI single to score Mendick and add a run to the White Sox lead, 2–0.
Mendick and DeJong’s bats stayed hot with two back-to-back singles in the bottom of the sixth inning. Martín Maldonado kept the momentum going with a 3-run home run, extending the lead to 5–0.
The Tampa Bay Rays notched their first runs of the night in the top of the seventh inning. René Pinto hit a double to right field to score José Caballero. René Pinto scored a run after a bases loaded walk, cutting the White Sox lead to 5–2.
The White Sox answered quickly. Following a Grossman walk, Jiménez launched a 2-run home run to left field, making it a 7–2 game.
The Rays added one run in the top of the eighth inning when Jose Siri hit a single to left field, scoring Harold Ramírez, 7–3.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Maldonado hit a single to left field. Nicky Lopez reached first on a fielding error. Pham hit a line drive single to load the bases. Rafael Ortega hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Maldonado and tacking on an insurance run, 8–3. Lopez scored on a wild pitch for the White Sox final run of the night, 9–3.
In the top of the ninth, Curtis Mead drove in Amed Rosario for the Rays final run of the night, 9–4.
White Sox pitching proved strong. Chris Flexen earned his first win of the season, notching 2 strikeouts in his 5.0 innings pitched. The bullpen held strong with Dominic Leone, Deivi García, Jordan Leasure, Michael Kopech, and Tanner Banks all coming in relief.
The White Sox defeated the Tampa Bay Rays, 9–4, at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Illinois on April 26, 2024.
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Eloy Jiménez Launches a 2-run Home Run in Win Over Rays was originally published in Inside the White Sox on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.