TAMPA, Fla. — The Chicago White Sox began their six-game road trip with 10 runs Friday in Pittsburgh.
They wrapped it up Wednesday with another offensive outburst, this time against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Sox scored six runs in the eighth inning to rally and defeat the Rays 11-9 in front of a sellout crowd of 10,046 at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
“That was an incredible effort by the guys,” manager Will Venable said. “One of the best wins of the year by far. To come back twice, answer twice, was incredible.
“One of those games that really encompasses what this group has built together and their willingness to continue to fight. Today was just a great example of that.”
The Sox (37-66) staged a pair of comebacks to take two of three in the series. They trailed 4-0 after the first inning when Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero hit two-run home runs against Jonathan Cannon.
“It was just one of those innings,” said Cannon, who allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits with one walk and a career-high nine strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. “Some good pitches, some good swings.
“We were able to settle down after that and adjust our game plan, off of the sinker a little bit.”
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The Sox responded with four runs in the second. Luis Robert Jr. had an RBI single and scored on a three-run home run by Colson Montgomery. It was the second homer in as many nights for Montgomery.
“It’s nice to see him get the results here in the big leagues,” Venable said.
The Rays scored twice in the fifth, but it could have been more.
Reliever Brandon Eisert struck out Danny Jansen with the bases loaded and one out. The ball bounced away from catcher Kyle Teel, and Caminero sprinted from third to home.
Teel retrieved the ball and made an off-balance throw to Eisert at the plate. The left-handed pitcher applied a no-look tag. After a video review, Caminero was called out.
“It just goes to show (Eisert) is putting his body on the line, going to make that tag,” Teel said. “That wasn’t an easy play, and I thought it was a great tag.”
Teel then homered leading off the sixth, the first of his major-league career, bringing the Sox within 6-5.
“It was really good to get that first one,” said Teel, who went 4-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs. “Just keep grinding every day and keep focusing on the process and good things will happen.”
The Rays scored a run in their half of the sixth — and then came the explosive eighth.
Teel drove in a run with a single, cutting Tampa Bay’s lead to 7-6. The Sox loaded the bases for Montgomery, who delivered a go-ahead, two-run double.
“Get the ball in the air,” Montgomery said of his approach. “I wasn’t trying to do too much. (Rays reliever Kevin Kelly) threw me a pitch I was able to handle and get in the air. I got it past the guys and it hit the wall. Good thing (Teel) scored.”
The Sox had runners on second and third with one out when Brooks Baldwin hit a sharp grounder to second baseman José Caballero, who made a wild throw to the plate. Robert scored on the error.
Mike Tauchman and Chase Meidroth added RBI singles, giving the Sox an 11-7 lead. It was the third time in the six games since the All-Star break that the Sox reached double digits.
“It’s like some of the guys say, hitting is contagious,” Montgomery said, “and I feel like since coming out of the break and a little before the break, you could tell we kind of got things going and I felt like nobody could stop us.
“We fed off the bullpen, the bullpen feeds off us. Hitting is contagious and hitting is fun.”
The Rays scored twice in the eighth and had runners on the corners with two outs when third baseman Josh Rojas made a nice diving stab on a Christopher Morel grounder and tossed to second for an inning-ending forceout.
The Sox made another heads-up play in the ninth when second baseman Meidroth backed up a wild throw to first and fired it to first baseman Miguel Vargas to catch Jake Mangum as he tried to make his way back to the bag.
The Rays kept coming and placed runners on the corners before Sox reliever Dan Altavilla got Chandler Simpson to line out to center to end the game. Altavilla collected his second save as the Sox completed a 5-1 trip.
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“The group, they’re playing well, complementing each other, they trust each other,” Venable said. “They’ve created something real. They feel extremely confident and are going out there and doing their job and they want to do it for each other.”