After a nine-game road trip the Tampa Bay Rays returned home to face the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.
Tropicana Field is where the Rays and White Sox began their three-game set. Tuesday night’s game provided us with one of the more interesting plays in recent baseball history. It also showed that blown calls are still an issue in Major League Baseball.
Did You See That?
The Chicago White Sox took an early 1-0 lead on one of the most bizarre plays you will ever see.
A Yolmer Sanchez home run.
After the game, Kevin Kiermaier spoke about what happen on the play that gave the White Sox the lead.
“It was hit 30 feet off the ground, there’s no way that was a home run. No way it even came close to hitting anything. That’s why I was just baffled with their decision,” Kiermaier said. The gold-glove center fielder went on the say, “I just completely lost it in the roof.”
The Rays tied the game quickly in the bottom-of-the-first when Evan Longoria drove home Corey Dickerson after the Rays’ left-fielder doubled to center. You can now add doubles to the list of league-leading categories for Dickerson.
Archer’s 11 Strikeouts
Entering the game 24 strikeouts shy of league-leader Chris Sale and his 119 punch outs, Chris Archer did his best to minimize the deficit. As a result, the Rays’ ace sat down 11 White Sox batters via the strikeout tonight.
He struck out multiple batters in five of his seven innings pitched.
When @ChrisArcher22 pitches angry ❄️❄️❄️ pic.twitter.com/ziilgOmxjk
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) June 7, 2017
Garcia Puts White Sox on Top
With the score tied at one, the visiting-team right-fielder Avisail Garcia put the White Sox ahead 2-1 with a 434′ solo home run to left field – the second dinger allowed by Archer on the night. The south-siders would go on to pick up a 4-2 victory. Reliever Chris Beck (1-0; 2.91) picked up the win while Archer (4-4; 3.65) was saddled with the loss.
Garcia now has nine home runs on the season. In addition, teammate Todd Frazier belted his ninth home run of the year. The third baseman’s home run came in the ninth inning off of reliever Ryan Garton.
Cash Talks About the Mystery HR
Up Next
Highly regarded pitching prospect Jacob Faria will join the Rays on Wednesday to make his big-league debut. Faria (6-1; 3.07) has spent all of 2017 with Triple-A Durham. The White Sox counter with Mike Pelfrey (2-4; 3.86).
