Tuesday, 3 a.m.
Alex Colome juggled chain saws. Sergio Romo jumped up and down on a tight rope.
On the other hand, they survived. And they allowed their Tampa Bay Rays, finally, to do so alongside them. Both Romo and Colome worked their way out of jams in the eighth and ninth innings, and the Rays managed a 5-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox Monday.
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The Rays had a season-high 14 hits -- Mallex Smith was four-for-four -- but had to escape trouble in the last two innings.
In the eighth, the White Sox put two runners on with one out against the White Sox. But Romo struck out Yoan Moncada and Avasail Garcia to escape trouble.
That brought on Colome, fresh off blowing a save on Sunday, to finish in the ninth. Colome walked a batter, allowed a hit and threw a wild pitch, putting the tying- and winning-runs in scoring position with no one out. But Colome induced three ground balls -- to himself, to Matt Duffy at third and to C.J. Cron at first -- to escape trouble.
"I was proud of the poise Alex showed at the end," said manager Kevin Cash.
"Second and third with no one out. To be able to prevent any of them from scoring is a remarkable job.".
The victory was the first of the year for the Rays since Opening Day. Between the wins, the team lost eight in a row.
"We needed it," said Chris Archer, who went 5 2/3 innings for the win. "Hopefully, this kick-starts us in the right direction."
Archer said he wasn't surprised by Colome's performance.
"He's an all-star," Archer said. "He's led the league in saves. He's had great years. We trust him. Others might doubt him, but we trust him. It was great he did it, but it wasn't a surprise."
Smith, who has struggled lately in the outfield, had a solid day with two singles, a double, a triple and two stolen bases. But he was thrown at at the plate twice, on a fielder's choice in the third and on an attempted steal of home in the eighth.
"Ideally, that was a tick over-aggressive," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said. "He did such a good job to getting to third. There are so many ways for him to score from third with the elite speed he has. It was a learning moment, but he did a lot to help us win."
Besides Smith's four hits, Joey Wendle, Carlos Gomez, Matt Duffy and Wilson Ramos all had two.
The teams play again today at 2:10 p.m.. Blake Snell pitches for the Rays against Chicago's Carson Fulmer.
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