Pruitt Unable To Protect Lead
It was a frustrating day for the Tampa Bay Rays. Austin Pruitt, trying to protect a 1-run lead in the eighth, gave up a 2-run homer to Matt Davidson en route to a 2-1 Chicago White Sox victory.
The frustration started early in the game when James Shields walked five of the first 10 batters, but the Rays were unable to score.
Mallex Smith helped Shields cause by getting picked off third with less than two outs in the second.
It wouldn’t be the only mistake Smith made on the afternoon. In the bottom of the seventh, he dropped a fly ball off the bat of Omar Navraez. To compound matters he uncorked an errant throw to second allowing Navraez to advance to third with 1-out. Jose Alvarado was lifted for Chaz Roe. Without the error, Alvarado probably continues in the inning.
Roe hit Leury Garcia with a pitch to put runners on the corners. Then the White Sox helped the Rays cause. Navraez strayed too far down the third base line and was caught in a pickle on a heads up play by Jesus Sucre. Roe put an exclamation point on his appearance striking out Yoan Moncada to end the threat.
C.J. Cron drove in the Rays only run with a double to plate Kevin Kiermaier in the fifth inning.
White Sox Avoid Sweep:
Austin Pruitt (1-2, 6.52 ERA) takes the loss for the Rays who fall to 3-9 on the year. Bruce Rondon (1-0, 0.00 ERA) picks up the win for the White Sox who improve to 4-7 with the win. Nate Jones earned his first save of the season.
Don’t Forget Yonny:
What should not be lost in the final outcome was the stellar start by Yonny Chirinos who delivered 5.1-innings of scoreless baseball. He allowed four hits while striking out five and walking one. He threw 75 pitches with 49 for strikes. As noted below, he now has the longest scoreless streak to start a career of any Rays pitcher.
At 14 1/3 innings, Chirinos has longest scoreless streak to start a career of any #Rays pitcher, per @EliasSports . Previous was Doug Waechter, 11 1/3 in 2003.
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) April 11, 2018
