White Sox defeat Rays 9-1 in road series finale

Chicago White Sox secured a 9-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday at Tropicana Field, extending their recent road success. The Sox jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning after the Rays committed two defensive miscues, including a mishandled grounder by Griffin Jax that allowed Sam Antonacci to score.

Will Venable noted the importance of capitalizing on those early errors, saying, "To get two runs early is obviously a nice way to start the game. Really, because of those two errors, right? Those were two tough plays for them, where obviously they're such a good defensive team that they usually make those. But a good job by our guys to take advantage."

The Sox added three more runs, with Andrew Benintendi's solo home run in the fourth and two-run hits by Everson Pereira and Miguel Vargas in the later innings. Pereira, who entered the game as a replacement, described his double as a "very satisfying feeling" after a close replay review.

Anthony Kay worked a career-high 6 1/3 scoreless innings, relying on his cutter to induce weak contact and limit the Rays' offense. He later explained, "That's kind of my go-to pitch, is getting the cutter in on guys. A lot of the success today led with that. It showed that getting the cutter in leads to being able to use the changeup a little bit more and using the four-seam up a little bit. When that thing is working, that's when I'm at my best."

Reliever Grant Taylor followed Kay, striking out Yandy Díaz and retiring the remaining batters without allowing a run. The Sox bullpen closed out the game, while the Rays' manager Kevin Cash turned to veteran Craig Kimbrel, who struggled early before issuing walks that set up Pereira's decisive double.

The win gave Chicago its best performance in five years, while Tampa Bay fell to 16-2 against left-handed starters at home this season.