Wednesday, 4 a.m.
Welcome back, Wander Franco. The guys sure did miss you.
Franco, who missed Monday night's game against the Cubs, returned to the lineup Tuesday night and made everyone notice. Franco had three hits, including a two-run homer,to lead the Rays to a 6-5 victory over Chicago.
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Franco is only 21, but so far, he looks like he's leading the parade for Tampa Bay. In his 11 games this season, he has seven multi-hit games.
"He's a really good player who's playing really well for us right now," said manager Kevin Cash.
In all, the Rays swung their bats better. They had 10 hits, and Franco's home run was the team's first in four games.
"We’e acknowledged that it’s tough to hit in cold weather," Cash said. "We’ve kind of proven it in the last couple of days. It was good to get the bats going."
The Rays jumped to a 4-0 lead, then struggled to hang on as the Cubs scrapped back. However, reliever Andrew Kittredge took care of that. He retired the Cubs' last six batters in a row on just 20 pitches to earn his second save.
Andrew Wall and Brandon Lowe each had two-hit games for the Rays. Josh Fleming got the win.
The Rays and Cubs play again tonight at Wrigley Field in a 7:30 p.m. game. Drew Rasmussen will start for Tampa Bay against Marcus Stroman.