Rays' bullpen 'burned by a good player'

ST. PETERSBURG -- This time, the Rays were unable to complete their trademark comeback. Uncharacteristically, their bullpen let the game slip away.

After rallying from a three-run midgame deficit, the Rays were done in by a double dose of Tim Anderson, who smacked the game-tying home run in the ninth inning and the go-ahead single in the 11th. Tampa Bay fell to the White Sox, 7-5, in Friday night’s battle of first-place teams at Tropicana Field.

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The Rays, now 5-11 in extra-inning games, saw their American League East lead reduced to four games over the Yankees. For only the third time this season, Tampa Bay lost when leading after eight innings.

Anderson’s 11th-inning single was on Andrew Kittredge's 3-2 slider. The sharp grounder eluded second baseman Joey Wendle and made it into right field, scoring Zack Collins from second base. Anderson, who went to second on the throw and to third on a passed ball by Mike Zunino, scored an insurance run on José Abreu’s grounder.

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“Our bullpen has been great and kind of a work in progress with injuries, but guys have stepped up and picked us up,’’ Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I don’t think they pitched poorly tonight. We got burned by a good player [Anderson].’’

The Rays, whose 38 come-from-behind victories lead MLB, were three outs away from a satisfying win. But reliever JT Chargois surrendered a game-tying solo homer to Anderson (also on a 3-2 slider) leading off the ninth, making it 5-5.

“It’s baseball,’’ Zunino said. “They have one of the better lineups in the league. I thought his [Chargois’] stuff was great. We had one pitch that let them back in and tied it.’’

The Rays had an opportunity to walk it off in the 10th inning with a runner on third base and one out. But White Sox closer Liam Hendriks struck out Wander Franco, then got Nelson Cruz on a popup.

Anderson struck again in the 11th. Kittredge said it was a good pitch.

“This one stings a little bit because we had such a great comeback,’’ Kittredge said. “Maybe I should’ve gone with the sinker. But it was a well-executed pitch. It was just a good piece of hitting.

“We have faith in every single guy [in the bullpen], even somebody we just added. We’ve had a lot of turnover with injuries. It’s tough when we let one get away from us. More often than not, we trust all our guys to get the job done.’’

The Rays trailed 4-2 entering the eighth inning, then made it a one-run game when Manuel Margot scored on Franco’s two-out infield hit (White Sox shortstop Anderson got to the ball but flipped it wildly to second base). After left-handed reliever Aaron Bummer threw ball one to designated hitter Cruz, White Sox manager Tony La Russa called for the intentional walk, filling the bases and setting up what looked to be a favorable matchup.

Not so much.

On the first pitch from Bummer, Austin Meadows (batting .196 against left-handers) slammed a go-ahead two-run single to center field, making it 5-4.

The White Sox scored three fifth-inning runs off Rays right-hander Michael Wacha, including a two-run homer by Yoán Moncada, making it 4-1.

In the Rays’ fifth, Margot smacked a one-out triple and scored on Kevin Kiermaier’s sacrifice fly, setting up the possibility of another late-inning comeback. It happened again, but the Rays couldn’t finish the job.