White Sox beat Rays, earn first sweep of 2018 season

Hector Santiago

Guaranteed Rate has a promotion going on where it will pay one month's mortgage for a White Sox fan every time the team sweeps a series. 

I didn't enter, figuring the Sox (41-70) were so terrible that they'd never be able to sweep an opponent this season.

Well, I'll be damned if the Sox didn't sweep the Tampa Bay Rays this weekend. The South Siders picked up three one-run victories in St. Petersburg, Florida, all of them coming in the last at-bat.

In fact, the Sox have won a season-high four games in a row, with each victory coming in their last at-bat. This marks the first time the Sox have swept a road series since they took three in a row from the Toronto Blue Jays in April 2016.

That's a good season and a half, so it's been a long time.

Here's a look back at the weekend that was:

Friday, Aug 3
White Sox 3, Rays 2 (10 innings): Second baseman Yoan Moncada is hitting only .167 with a .515 OPS against left-handed pitching this season, but his RBI double while batting right-handed with two outs in the top of the 10th made the difference in this game.

It's too bad Lucas Giolito did not get the win because he pitched well. The right-hander took a one-hitter into the eighth inning, during which he was removed after giving up a leadoff double. Naturally, the struggling Sox bullpen failed to protect a 2-0 lead -- the Rays got two runs in the eighth to force extra innings.

Giolito's final line: 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 6 Ks, 3 BBs

His ERA is 5.97, the first time it's been below 6 since April.

After Moncada's double put the Sox ahead, Hector Santiago worked a scoreless bottom of the 10th for his first save since 2012. Tyler Danish (1-0) got the win after recording the final out of the bottom of the ninth.

Saturday, Aug. 4
White Sox 2, Rays 1: With the score tied at 1, Tim Anderson led off the top of the ninth inning with a double. He scored from second with Rays third baseman Matt Duffy made a two-base throwing error on a sacrifice bunt by Leury Garcia.

The lead held up as rookie right-hander Thyago Vieira worked around a two-out walk and a wild pitch to earn his first career save in his third appearance with the Sox. Vieira struck out Willy Adames with a high fastball for the third out and excessively celebrated the achievement by pounding his own chest with his fist multiple times, but hey, we can't tell him to act as though he had done it before, because he hadn't.

The Sox got the win despite an erratic outing from Carlos Rodon, who walked five and struck out four over six innings. Rodon allowed only three hits, however, and that allowed him to put mostly zeroes on the board. The one run he allowed was unearned because of a passed ball by Omar Narvaez.

Jose Abreu homered for the second straight game, his 19th homer of the season, this one coming off Tampa Bay ace Blake Snell.

Sunday, Aug. 5
White Sox 8, Rays 7: The Sox were down 3-1. Then they tied it at 3. Then they went ahead 5-3. Tampa Bay made it 5-4. Then it was 6-4 Sox after Avisail Garcia's second home run of the game. The Rays tied it at 6 with two runs in the seventh.

This seesaw affair took three hours, 38 minutes to play, but it ended happily thanks to a two-out Sox rally in the ninth inning.

Abreu singled and scored when Daniel Palka smashed a first-pitch homer over the batter's eye in center field for an 8-6 Sox lead. Palka's 439-foot blast off Diego Castillo was his 17th of the season and fifth in his past 10 games.

Santiago (4-3), who had got the final out of the bottom of the eighth inning, wobbled in the bottom of the ninth, giving up two doubles and a walk to make it 8-7. But with runners on first and second and one out, he induced a game-ending double play off the bat of Tampa Bay's Jesus Sucre.

One bit of bad news from this game: Leury Garcia strained his left hamstring making a shoestring grab in center field. He has been placed on the 10-day disabled list. The Sox on Monday recalled outfielder Ryan LaMarre from Triple-A Charlotte to take Leury Garcia's place on the 25-man roster.

The Sox open a six-game homestand Monday night, featuring three games with the New York Yankees and three games with the Cleveland Indians.

Gulp.

Might be a tough week against two playoff contenders.