Chicago White Sox rout the Tampa Bay Rays 9-2 – MLB Update
The combined effort from the Chicago White Sox resulted in their 9-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in Florida on April 21.
It was the end of the losing streak for the White Sox, as Manager Ozzie Guillen had a smile on his face after a long time. He said, "That's the way we expected to play every day, to be honest with you. I don't want to be cocky. This team is allowed to play
that way because of the way we built this ballclub and the talent we have. We needed a game like that. The guys were optimistic.”
It was a good sign for the White Sox officials that most of their batters were in good touch again. A.J. Pierzynski, Paul Konerko, Omar Vizquel and Carlos Quentin each made two RBI doubles in the White Sox win. Chicago had a poor record in the last four
games as they won only one out of four off their rivals, the Rays.
The White Sox starter, Gavin Floyd also had a notable day with the ball as he permitted just two runs on seven hits, including two earned runs and had seven strike-outs in six inning pitches. The relievers for the White Sox also shined as they did not give
up a run and got two strike-outs.
Juan Pierre took a lead to 1-0 when Felipe Lopez made a mistake of a wide throw from the first baseman. In the mean time, Pierre completed his single on Vizquel’s grounder. Pierre also made four runs in the later part of the third inning while Pierzynski
contributed by hitting a sacrifice fly.
After the win, Pierre expressed his excitement as, “Definitely tried to get off to a good start and just get the lead. Maybe this might be a little momentum we need going into the next series, but everybody all around had a good game. Just a good feeling
to get a win again.”
With Pierzynski’s RBI single, Chicago led off 6-2 in the fifth inning. During the sixth inning, the lead further extended to 8-2 when Quentin made a two-run double.
On the other side, the batters of the Rays did not do well as Sam Fuld took two RBIs on two hits. Fuld gave some momentum to the Rays by making a two-run single and raised the score to 5-2.
The Rays’ Manager Joe Maddon praised the pitching effort of Pierre. He said, “Pierre really set the tone, and then Vizquel ... the top of the order pretty much set the tone for them.”
Tampa Bay’s starter Jeff Niemann had the worst game as he allowed six runs on six hits including four strike-outs in 4 inning pitches.
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