Luke Raley and Harold Ramirez each connected on home runs, and the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Chicago White Sox, 4-1, on Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Rays completed the three-game sweep in a brisk 2 hours, 2 minutes, and they remained perfect at home at 13-0.
Backed by the two homers from Raley and Ramirez, the Rays provided enough run support for Zach Eflin (3-0) to enjoy a successful return to the rotation.
Eflin was reinstated from the injured list where he had been out with low back tightness, and he made his first start since April 7.
In five innings, Eflin gave up one run on three hits with four strikeouts and no walks. Of his 67 pitches, 45 were strikes.
Yonny Chirinos tossed three scoreless, hitless innings of relief for Tampa Bay. Pete Fairbanks polished off the ninth for his third save.
The Rays limited the White Sox to three hits.
Lucas Giolito (1-2) worked seven innings for the White Sox, giving up four runs and five hits. He had five strikeouts and walked two.
The Rays extended their MLB-record home run streak to open a season to 22 games on Raley’s two-run blast in the second inning.
As a team, the Rays have a league-leading 48 homers.
In the Rays’ three-run second inning, Isaac Paredes was hit by a pitch, and Raley followed with a long drive to right center. Tampa Bay made it a three-run inning on Yandy Diaz’s RBI groundout, which scored Christian Bethancourt, who doubled.
The Rays used the long ball again to take a four-run lead. In the third inning, Ramirez delivered his fifth of the season.
Chicago broke through off Eflin for a run in the fourth inning, courtesy of a couple of doubles. Andrew Benintendi led off with a two-base hit, and Eloy Jimenez’s one-out RBI double trimmed the White Sox deficit to 4-1.
The only other hit the White Sox had was Luis Roberts’ single to lead off the game.
–Field Level Media
