They fell behind one of baseball's worst teams three times.
And still, the Tampa Bay Rays won again Thursday afternoon. They swept their second straight series -- they've won nine of their last 11 -- with a 5-3 comeback win over the Chicago White Sox.
The Rays scored three times in the top of the ninth inning to eclipse the Sox. Junior Caminero hit a game-tying home run, and Hunter Feduccia and Taylor Walls walked in runs to complete the comeback.
In the ninth, the Rays got a homer, a singl3, a hit by pitch and three walks.
Earlier in the game, Taylor Walls and Richie Palacious singled in runs.
The Rays got a good start from Steen Matz, who went 5 1/3 innings and allowed two earned runs. Kevin Kelly got the win for Tampa Bay and Bryan Baker got his fourth save.
Caminero, Yandy Diaz, Palacious and Nick Fortes all had two hits.
The Rays travel to Pittsburgh today to face the Pirates at PNC Park at 6:40 p.m. Nick Martinez will start for the Rays against Bubba Chandler.
Enough with the regular season. Bring on the playoffs.
The Tampa Bay Lightning grew bored with the season with one game to go. They were thumped in their regular season finale Wednesday night, losing a 4-2 decision to the New York Rangers.
The Bolts finished with 50-26-6 record, tied for second place in the Atlantic Division.
How nonchalant did the Bolts take this one? Well, they started Brandon Halverson in goal, choosing to sit Andrei Vasilevskiy. Regular backup Jonas Johannson is injured.
Brayden Point and Jake Guentzel and were inactive.
The Rangers took a 3-0 five minutes into the second period. The Bolts' Oliver Bjorkstrand scored his 12th goal. Corey Perry scored his 17th.
Nikita Kucherov did not score for the Lightning, finishing in second place in the NHL's scoring race to Connor McDavid.
The Bolts are at Benchmark Arena either Saturday or Sunday against Montreal.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet your first-place Tampa Bay Rays.
Sure, it's awful early to bring it up. But when you remember how awful the Rays' bullpen was early in the season, who would have thought they could dig their way out of mediocrity so fast?
The Rays won their fourth straight game Tuesday, beating the woeful Chicago White Sox 8-5. The Rays gave up just five hits, but home runs by Everson Pereira and Munetaka Murakami kept the Sox within striking distance.
The Rays jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first inning . Ryan Vilade doubled in Jonathan Aranda. Ben Williamson forced in another run with a sacrifice bunt, and Vilade scored on a throwing error by pitcher Noah Schultz.
Williamson added a double in the third, knocking in Vilade again. For the night, Williamson had two doubles and his sacrifice bunt. Vilade had three hits
Pereira's three-run homer made it close again, but Tampa Bay scored twice in the sixth and twice in the seventh.
Shane McClanahan allowed just two hits and two earned runs in his five-inning start. He notchwd his first win in 1,033 days.
The Rays had 12 hits and six walks in the game.
The Rays and White Sox will play again at 7:40 p.m. tonight at Rate Field. The Rays will start Jessee Scholtens against Sean Burke.
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Monday, 4 a.m. These days, the New York Yankees may not be worth a nickel on a $336 million payroll. They’re on a five-game losing streak. For all their power, they scored just 11 runs in their sweep at the hands of Tampa Bay. They’re one game over .500 and fading. On the other hand, […]
Sunday, 4 a.m. They didn’t exactly bomb the Bombers. But they did bunt them to death. The Tampa Bay Rays evened their season record at 7-7 Saturday night with a come-from-behind 5-4 victory in 10 innnings at Tropicana Field. The Rays put together two bunt hits and an infield single to score twice in the […]
Sunday, 3 a.m. By now, the Boston Bruins should realize that the Tampa Bay Lightning doesn’t have a lot of quit in them. The Bolts came from behind for the third time this year to beat the Bruins Saturday afternoon. This time, the comeback led to a 2-1 win. It was the fourth time overall […]
Saturday, 4 a.m. There are times they look like a ballclub. There are times when the starting pitching is sturdy, when the relief pitching plays its role, when there is enough hitting. On such nights, the Rays seem to make sense. They hint there are nights when they can compete. On such nights. even the […]
Friday, 4 a.m. Is this any way to enter the NHL playoffs? Usually, a team imagines itself entering on a hot streak. The goalie is magical, the offense is explosive, the defense is bulletproof. Alas, it isn’t that way for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who lost their third straight game Thursday night, 2-1 to Montreal. […]
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About Gary Shelton
• No one covers Tampa Bay like Gary Shelton.
• No one has seen as many moments, as many athletes, as many coaches as he has over the last quarter of a century.
• No one has won more awards, including two national Associated Press Sports Editors Best Columnist awards and eight top 10 finishes. He also just received his sixth Sportswriter of the Year award for Florida by the NSSA.
• No one has seen more big events, including 29 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics and 11 Final Fours. Gary still goes into the locker rooms to obtain his stories.
• No one has made you angrier, or laugh louder, or think harder about what he has written.
Now, he begins a website designed to keep him in touch with the readers who have grown up on his words.
