Sox gggreat in Rays 5-4 victory over Tampa Bay
The White Sox’s “Killer G’s” struck Friday night, as Hector Gimenez, Tyler Greene and Conor Gillaspie all homered, powering the Sox to a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Gimenez’s solo homer in the 5th inning off of Fausto Carmona, I mean Roberto Hernandez, was the first of his career, to bring the Sox within a run at 3-2. Greene then hit a two-run homer to dead center to give the Sox the lead and Gillaspie added a solo shot of his own the very next inning, which proved to be the game-winning run.
Jake Peavy bulldogged his way through six and two-thirds, pitching effectively despite not having his best stuff. Peavy allowed three runs in the first four innings, including homers to Evan Longoria and Matt Joyce, but settled down to hold Tampa scoreless in his final two and two-thirds innings of work. Peavy struck out six Rays, while only walking one.
For all who clamor for the Sox to score runs via means other than home runs, the long ball is what won the game for the Sox tonight. Turning eight hits into five runs is rather efficient. Adam Dunn continued his streak of not looking terrible, tallying two hits in four at-bats, including an RBI double.
Matt Thornton and Jesse Crain did their jobs to hold the Sox lead at two into the ninth inning. But like Peavy, Addison Reed did not have his best stuff tonight, missing spots regularly and allowing a run on a Joyce RBI-single with two outs. However, Reed struck out Ben Zobrist on a nice splitter in the dirt for his eighth save in eight opportunities.
Up Next: The White Sox try to take the series tomorrow night against Tampa Bay, with Gavin Floyd, who is in search of his first win, opposing Matt Moore on Comcast SportsNet Chicago.