Another game, another loss. One run on four hits; if this sounds familiar, no, you’re not reading the same write up as before but if you watched the Tampa Bay Rays lose 6-1 to Chicago White Sox Sunday afternoon, you might have thought you were watching the same game.
Without much exception, it was pretty much all ChiSox, all game long. After the top of the Rays order went down 1-2-3 on ground balls to open the first inning, Chicago scored two in the home half of the frame. Gordon Beckham cracked a one-out solo homer to left field off of Rays starting pitcher Jeff Niemann. One out later, Paul Konerko added another long ball to the festivities.
Chicago scored another two runs in the second and one in the third. Niemann – 0-2 on the year with an 8.31 ERA – allowed 5 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits, walking 2 while striking out 1 and allowing two homers in the course of 2 and 2/3 innings pitched before being yanked in favor of long-reliever Andy Sonnanstine.
Konerko made it 5-0 in the bottom of the fifth with another home run.
This article appears in Apr 7-13, 2011.