Sunday, 3 a.m.
It was going to be just one of those nights, right?
It was going to be one of those inexplicable nights that happens in baseball, a night where a bad team beats a good one, a night when an underachieving pitcher finds his rhythm and tames the bests offense (so far) in baseball.
And then, players were trying to find the adjectives to describe a game that turned on its head.
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The Rays erupted for 10 runs in the seventh inning Saturday night, winning a lopsided 12-3 game over a slumping Chicago White Sox team. The Rays had nine hits in the inning, three of them home runs, in the inning. In the snap of a finger, they went from being Clark Kent to being Superman.
The amazing thing about it, however, is how dead in the water the Rays appeared to be before that.
Chicago's Lance Lynn, who had struggled all season, cruised through six no-hit innings, striking out nine and walking just one batter. He seemed completely dominant, and the Rays seemed completely overmatched.
And then the Rays woke up, and the White Sox couldn't keep the baseball in the park.
Wander Franco homered. Josh Lowe singled. Isaac Paredes doubled. Taylor Walls walked. Manuel Margot got an infield hit. Jose Siri doubled. Yandy Diaz walks. Franco singled in two runs. Randy Arozarena hit a three run homer. Josh Lowe hit a homer. Paredes singled.
Arozarena has 28 RBI on the season, second in the American League.
Even for an offense that has been very good this season, it was ann amazing inning. When Arozarena hit his second home run, and Frankie Mejia hit another it, it just padded the lead.
"There is a lot of confidence in the group, but I don’t think you can ever expect 10 runs," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said. "Lance Lynn was really, really good. He had that command going. He had the fastball at the top of the zone, the backdoor cutter. And then something clicked. Wander"s home run had a lot of carry over."
Yonny Chirinos got the win for the Rays, throwing 4 2/3 innings of three-hit baseball.
The Rays go for the four-game sweep of Chicago today at 2:10 p.m. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against Mike Clevinger.