Thursday, 4 a.m.

The teams that make the baseball playoffs win games like this. They talk about comebacks and resolve and determination.

The teams that don’t … remember. They talk about missed opportunities and bad bounces.

The Rays came close to coming from behind in Wednesday night's 6-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

Isn't that what the losers do? Talk about coming close?

The Rays rallied from a 6-1 deficit and had runners on second and third with one out in the ninth with two of their best hitters up...and failed. They lost to Chicago -- worst in the American League -- and fell to five games behind in the Wild Card race.

The Rays threatened in the ninth when Hunter Feduccia and Tristan Gray walked and were bunted to second and third. But Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe both struck out to end the game.

The Rays were just one-for-six with runners in scoring position.

The Rays were scheduled to start Ryan Pepiot, but he was given the night off because he has thrown too many innings. Instead, the Rays used the opener strategy and fell behind quickly.

Reliever Mason Montgomery -- the team's second pitcher of the night -- was awful for the second straight game. He got only two men out. He gave up five hits, a walk and five runs.

The Rays homered their way back into the game. Junior Caminero hit his 42nd. Yandy Diaz hit his 23rd. Carson Williams hit his third.

The Rays and White Sox wrap up their series today at 2:10 p.m. at Rate Field. Ian Seymour will start for the Rays against Shane Smith.

Wednesday, 4 a.m.

Sometimes, it isn't how often a team hits the baseball.

Sometimes, it's how far.

The Tampa Bay Rays barely slipped past a 90-loss Chicago White Sox team Tuesday night, winning 5-4. The Rays' recent hitting woes continued with the team collecting only seven hits.

Three of them, however, were home runs, none of them from the most likely suspects. Josh Lowe hit his eleventh of the year in the second inning. Richie Palacioos hit a his first homer in the fourth. And, with the score tied at 4-4, Tristan Gray hit his third of the year in the seventh.

All three home runs went to right field.

The Rays are back to .500 (72-72).

Chicago has been the worst team in the American League this year. Still, the White Sox had won eight of their previous nine games.

The White Sox trailed 4-1 early, but tied the game in the sixth. Mason Montgomery came in in relief and gave up a double (first pitch), a wild pitch and a single (first pitch) to allow the Sox to tie the game.

The Rays' bullpen came on with Kevin Kelly, Bryan Baker, Edwin Uceta and Pete Fairbanks all throwing shutout baseball over the last 3 1/3 innings. Fairbanks had his 25th save.

The Rays and White Sox play again tonight at 7:40 p.m. in Chicago. Ryan Pepiot will start for the Rays. The Sox have not announced a starter.

Tuesday, 4 a.m.

5 Thoughts

1. How long do we have to wait before we can put Emeke Egbuka in the Ring of Honor?

2. I keep waiting for the game officials to invoke one more play review to give the Falcons one more chance. Maybe two.

4. Yeah, I was hoping for more impact out of Haason Reddick, too. On the other hand, he now has as many sacks for the Bucs as he did for the Jets.

3. I still say Bucky Irving gets his 1,000 yards. Of course, the Bucs have to figure out the puzzle that is their offensive line first.

5. Has anyone seen Chase McLaughlin's toe?

5 Comments

(From Todd Bowles' press conference)

On his summation of the Bucs' offensive line: “We’ll see what it is this week. I thought Graham [Barton], for the first time at tackle, played very well. I thought [Ben] Bredesen did a very good job at center, especially controlling where the blitzes go and the pickups and everything like that. Michael Jordan played well at guard, as well. So, they played tough and they battled. You know, for those guys moving around, playing their first game at different positions, I thought they did a good job. Going forward, we’ll see.”

On LB SirVocea Dennis’ performance: “[It was] up and down…Up and down. [There were] some plays he would want back from a mental standpoint. Physically, I thought he was very physical, especially in the second half. [There were] two plays in particular we’d like to have back on defense.”

(On what he was most pleased with from the team’s Week 1 performance): “Just the resiliency. Those guys didn’t blink whether it was penalties, a bad play, or anything else. This is the first time they’ve played that many plays in a ball game with a limited preseason so I knew there was going to be some fatigue in the second half, but mentally, they didn’t fall off. They believed in each other and that was the biggest take out of the game.”

On CB Zyon McCollum’s performance and his dropped interceptions “We dropped three of them. He dropped two. [Jamel] Dean dropped one. We had our chances. We had our chances. That could have opened the game up, but they covered well. They play very good press coverage and for the most part they were tight on their guys.”

On the team’s pass rush performance and generating just one sack) “I thought we missed quite a few of them. I thought we rushed well – we didn’t finish the play, but we rushed well. We’ve got to work on closing the middle out toward the end of the ball game with those guys, not letting the quarterback run up the middle.”

Game Balls:

Offense: Yes, he just said hello. But Emeka Egbuka looks like a weapon already.

Defense: Tykee Smith didn't get a lot of screen time, but he led the Bucs with 11 tackles.

Special teams: A lot of people thought Kameron Johnson didn't deserve to make the team. A 54-yard punt return says differently.

Grades

Quarterback: Baker Mayfield has had a lot of better days. But you can't fault his winning drive, can you? Grade: B-..

Running back: Bucky Irving rushed for just 37 yards behind the makeshift line. He did score on a pass reception. Grade: C+.

Offensive line: Who's playing where? The Bucs started three players in new positions and missed Tristan Wirfs. But they gave up just one sack. Grade: B.

Wide receivers: Mike Evans was solid, and Egbuka was sensational. Grade: A.

Defensive line: Only one sack and not enough pressures. Grade: C-.

Secondary: Michael Penix Jr. threw for 298 yards. That's far too many. Grade: C.

Kicking: Riley Dixon averaged more than 50 yards per punt but McLaughlin had one of his worst days with a missed field goal and a missed extra point. Grade: C+.

Power Rankings

1. Buffalo

2. Green Bay

3. San Francisco

4. Pittsburgh

5. Washington

Bottom 5

32. Carolina

31. New Orleans

30. Titans

29. Miami

28. N.Y. Giants

Best Bucs' Newcomers

1. Emeka Egbuka

2. Riley Dixon

3. Jacob Parrish

4. SirVocea Dennis

5. Haason Reddick

NFL's 5 Stars

1. Josh Allen, quarterback, Buffalo

2. Justin Herbert, quarterback, L.A. Chargers

3. Aaron Rodgers, quarterback, Pittsburgh

4. Emeka Egbuka, receiver, Tampa Bay

6. Puka Nacea, receiver, L.A. Rams

NFL's 5 Goats

1. Russell Wilson, quarterback, N.Y. Giants

2. Younghoe Koo, kicker, Atlanta.

3. Tua Tagovailoa, quarterback, Miami

4. Derrick Henry, running back, Baltimore

5. Bryce Young, quarterback, Carolina