White Sox 1, Rays 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Great baserunning by veteran Jimmy Rollins and a clutch hit by Melky Cabrera helped the Chicago White Sox outduel the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.
Cabrera's RBI single in the ninth inning gave White Sox pitcher Chris Sale all the support he needed in a 1-0 victory over the Rays in the first contest of a three-game series.
Rollins started the inning with a single off of Alex Colome (1-1) that landed just in front of the glove of Tampa Bay leftfielder Desmond Jennings' glove. The Rays unsuccessfully challenged the ruling.
Following a strikeout by Jose Abreu, Todd Frazier hit a towering shot to right center. Right fielder Corey Dickerson made the catch but Rollins tagged up and went to second. Cabrera then lined a single to right field to drive in Rollins.
That made a winner out of Sale (3-0), who threw his first complete game of the year but needed a ninth-inning leaping catch at the wall by Cabrera to save the shut out.
He allowed two hits and struck out nine in the victory. At one point, Sale sat down 16 straight Rays' batters and also retired the final seven.
Rays starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi tried to keep up with Sale. He went seven innings, allowing four hits, striking out six and walking one. After allowing a single to Melky Cabrera in the fourth, Odorizzi retired the final 11 Chicago batters he faced in his longest outing of the season.
Sale allowed only a single to Desmond Jennings in the second inning through the first five innings. He appeared to get stronger as the game continued and needed only five pitches to get through the fourth inning.
Meanwhile, Odorizzi matched Sale with zeroes allowed, but his defense helped work him out of some jams. In the second inning with runners on first and second and one out, Odorizzi got Alex Avila to hit into a 3-6-1 double play.
In the fourth, with runners on first and second with one out, Odorizzi got Brett Lawrie to hit into a fielder's choice, and second baseman Logan Forsythe made a running over-the-shoulder catch to keep the game scoreless.
NOTES: The Rays lost two players on Logan Forsythe's fourth-inning catch after he collided with center fielder Kevin Kiermaier. Both went down although Forsythe limped off. Kiermayer stayed down for a couple of minutes before slowly walking to the dugout. . . . Rays RHP Erasmo Ramirez will make his first start of the season on Saturday. He was 11-6 last year for Tampa Bay. He pitched two innings in relief on Wednesday. ... Rays RHP Alex Cobb and RHP Chase Whitley, both rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, threw off a mound for the second time. ... The Rays celebrated Jackie Robinson Day on Friday, the annual league celebration commemorating the 69th anniversary of Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier in 1947. Both the Rays and the White Sox wore Robinson's No. 42. ... It was a homecoming of sorts for White Sox LHP Chris Sale, who went to high school in nearby Lakeland, Fla., and entered the game with a 2-4 lifetime mark against the Rays. ... Chicago's bullpen entered Friday's game having thrown 15 consecutive scoreless innings in the last four games. ... Chicago 1B Jose Abreu entered the game having reached base safely in all nine games and with hits in seven.