Game 1: Holy mother of comebacks, Batman! The Rays scored 5 times in the bottom of the 9th to steal a 7-6 win from the White Sox in the opener of a series featuring the two best teams in baseball at Publix Park. With the Rays trailing 6-2, Seth Williams led off the 9th with a walk and Josh Alexander homered (#36) to halve the lead. Chicago brought in closer Walt Klopfer, MLB's save leader with 38, and Luis Barela greeted him with a homer (#29) to make it 6-5. Doug Johns was retired and although Jose Mendez had gone 2-3 with a double and RBI, I pinch-hit Jimmy Leonard and he tied the game with one swing of the bat for HR #33. But they weren't done. Tomas Laboy doubled and after Josh Beckett grounded out Tony Cordova stepped up and delivered an RBI single for the walk-off win. Doug Combs picked up his first win of the year having pitched the 9th and the Rays overcame a rare poor start from Gordie Ager (3.1 8 6 6 3 3). The comeback wouldn't have been possible without the pen shutting Chicago down the rest of the way and Jon Harbour was instrumental with 3 2/3 shutout innings. Here's the win probability chart on this wild game:
Game 2: It was Chicago's turn to come back and exploit the other team's bullpen as a 6-2 Rays lead after 5 innings turned into an 11-7 loss. Dan Gregory (#9), Josh Alexander (#37) and Jose Mendez (#17) homered to give the Rays a sizable early advantage behind Jose Mendoza, but the lefty put two men on in the 6th. Ed Pretty was given another chance with a lead, and he allowed Mendoza's runner to score along with two of his own on a homer and it was tied. Then in the 7th Edgar Suarez, who had pitched very well since being acquired in trade, gave up 3 runs and the Rays were on their way to defeat. Seth Williams added a too-little, too-late solo jack (#12) in the 9th.
Game 3: After combining for 31 runs in the first two games the Rays and White Sox had a pitchers' duel in the series finale and it was Jim Brophy who outdueled Sandy D'Alena to lead Tampa Bay to a 2-0 win. Brophy pitched his best game of the season in a great season for him, going 7 2 0 0 1 8 and improving to 18-2, 3.02. Freddy Zamora took care of the 9th for save #14. Luis Barela supplied the offense, hitting his 30th homer of the year leading off the 2nd and adding an RBI single in the 3rd.
Team record: 91-34. Next up: An off-day then 2 games in Philadelphia where Luis Barela returns to his former home.