Wednesday, 4 a.m.
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 ining. Ryan Vilade doubled in Jonathan Arada. Ben Williamson forced in another run with a sacrifice bunt, and Valade 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 start. He notching his first win in 1,033 days.
The Rays had 12 hits and six walks in the american.
The Rays and White Sox will play again at 7:40 p.m. tonight at Rate Field. The Rays will start Jessee Scholtens aginst Sean Burke.