MLB-worst White Sox snap 7-game skid with their 4th win of the season, 9-4 over Rays

CHICAGO (AP) — Light-hitting Martín Maldonado hit a three-run homer, Eloy Jiménez added a two-run-shot and the MLB-worst Chicago White Sox snapped a seven-game losing streak with their fourth win of the season, a 9-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night.

The nine runs were a season high for Chicago, which at 4-22 is off to the worst start in franchise history through 26 games. Baltimore started 2-24 in 1988.

Maldonado added a single. The 37-year-old catcher entered hitting .048, with two hits in 42 at-bats with no RBIs. He batted .191 with 15 homers last season for Houston.

“I'm always trying to help the team,” Maldonado said. “The way I've been swinging the bat, coming through like that felt good.

“This game is so negative mentally," he added. "If you go 3 for 10, you fail seven times. It's always good when you see results in the field.”

Chris Flexen (1-3) worked five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and walking three. The right-hander, who entered with a 6.41 ERA, exited after walking two batters to open the sixth and was followed by five relievers.

"He pounded the strike zone," manager Pedro Grifol said. “He had everything going. He really executed on his pitches. Other than those two walks, it was a pretty flawless start.”

Tommy Pham started in center field and had two singles in his White Sox debut after being recalled from Triple-A Charlotte. The 36-year-old had signed a minor league on April 16, then went to the minors for four games to ramp up.

Paul DeJong had two hits and an RBI. Danny Mendick and Nicky Lopez each doubled and had two hits.

Tampa Bay lost for the fourth time in five games. Curtis Mead had two hits and an RBI. René Pinto, Jose Siri and Amed Rosario each drove in a run.

Rays starter Zach Eflin (1-3) yielded five runs on nine hits and four walks. The 30-year-old right-hander hadn’t allowed a run in his previous two starts, both no-decisions.

“It's gonna all click,” Eflin said. “It seems like we're all just not playing, playing good together. Defense, offense, pitching, it's just not all clicking at the same time.”

And on giving up nine runs to the White Sox, who entered having scored an MLB-low 56 times?

“Honestly, at the end of the day it's a big-league team,” Eflin said. “You know, there's not bad hitters out there.”

The White Sox also recalled outfielder Rafael Ortega from Charlotte on Friday, while optioning outfielder Dominic Fletcher. Chicago designated left-hander Bailey Horn and outfielder Kevin Pillar for assignment.

The White Sox took a 1-0 lead in the third on Andrew Vaughn’s sacrifice fly with the bases loaded.

Chicago increased it lead to 2-0 in fourth inning on Mendick’s double and DeJong’s RBI single.

Maldonado took Eflin deep to left on a 1-0 pitch in the sixth to make it 5-0.

“It was pretty middle, middle,” Eflin said. “Really good pitch to hit.”

The Rays cut it to 5-2 in the seventh on Pinto’s RBI double, followed by three straight walks. Jiménez connected in the bottom half.

Chicago added two unearned runs in the eighth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tampa Bay: LHP Colin Poche was placed on the 15-day injured list with mid-back tightness and had a cortisone shot. RHP Manuel Rodriguez was recalled from Triple-A Durham to take his roster spot. … OF Josh Lowe (right oblique strain) could return as early as Saturday, manager Kevin Cash said. … 1B Yandy Díaz exited in the eighth after being hit by a pitch. ... INF Jonathan Amanda (right finger fracture) was set to being a rehab stint at Durham.

UP NEXT

Tampa Bay RHP Aaron Civale (2-2, 3.90) faces Chicago rookie RHP Jonathan Cannon (0-1, 7.27) on Saturday night.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Chicago White Sox's Eloy Jiménez celebrates after his two-run home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Tampa Bay Rays' René Pinto watches his RBI double off Chicago White Sox relief pitcher Deivi García during the seventh inning of a baseball game Friday, April 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Tampa Bay Rays' Randy Arozarena strikes out with the bases loaded on a throw from Chicago White Sox pitcher Michael Kopech in the eighth inning of a baseball game Friday, April 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago White Sox's Eloy Jiménez, left, and catcher Martín Maldonado (15) celebrate after a win over the Tampa Bay Rays in a baseball game Friday, April 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago White Sox's Eloy Jiménez, right, celebrates after his two-run home run with Rafael Ortega during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Minutes after his team was knocked out of the NHL playoffs in a game that included two disallowed goals because of goaltender interference, Jon Cooper was careful to say those calls weren't the reason the Tampa Bay Lightning lost the series. He still had a problem with them.

Cooper, a two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach, pointed out the league has made one rule change after another to encourage offense. When Tampa Bay scored its first goal, Florida coach Paul Maurice successfully challenged to wipe it out for goalie interference; when on-ice officials ruled a later Lightning goal should not count for the same reason, Cooper challenged but the call was upheld. His team went on to lose 6-1 and he said afterward he didn't think there was enough evidence for either call.

It was clear this was the biggest controversy of the postseason so far.

At least one prominent colleague agreed with Cooper's sentiment, and many of the coaches left in the playoffs acknowledge there's a delicate balance when it comes to goalie interference, when the decision or a coach's challenge can swing a game or a series at the most important time of year.

“It’s an area they’re going to have to look at to shore up,” said Carolina's Rod Brind'Amour, who sided with Cooper on the premise about goalies being overprotected for incidental contact. “We we want to see goals, especially those ones when you’re fighting around the net. If you knock a goalie over, that’s goalie interference. But there should be a little more onus on just the common sense part of it.”

After his Panthers were on the positive end of all three goalie interference challenges so far, Maurice felt he could be more philosophical about the topic than if he were in Cooper’s chair. The veteran coach who guided Florida to the Stanley Cup Final last year felt confident enough to challenge but wasn’t entirely sure what the league’s situation room would decide.

Still, he thinks goalie interference is clearer now than it was four or five years ago because the pendulum has swung from zero tolerance to more contact and settled in the middle.

“They’ve tried to narrow it,” Maurice said. “If the goaltender can’t get to the save, it’s goalie interference. So, what I do (behind the bench) on that is truly ‘spirit of the rule.’ I try not to factor in all the things that are criteria that they tell you. Is (an opponent) in his crease to stop him from making a save I think he can save? It’s almost that simple.”

What takes some of simplicity out of the process is the punishment: a 2-minute delay-of-game penalty for any unsuccessful challenge, either for goaltender interference or offside. Challenging for offside is usually more clear since it is based on video coaches watch closely; rarely do they get it wrong.

Goalie interference has become something like the definition of a catch in football, a moving target. As such, the calculus that goes into challenging it is on a coach-by-coach, case-by-case basis.

"Time and score has something to do with it, the way your team plays has something to do with it," said Colorado's Jared Bednar, who led the Avalanche to the Cup in 2022. “The reality of the situation often is you better be sure it’s goalie interference, if you’re going to challenge it. If it’s questionable, then you’re likely not getting the call and sometimes when you’re sure, you don’t get the call. People that say they have it figured out, I would argue and disagree because we don’t.”

Bednar added that if there was a poll of NHL coaches, he thinks it would show the league hasn't yet established a clear standard. That gray area is what drives coaches crazy.

Cooper credited Sergei Bobrovsky for duping officials to sell the calls and lamented how two skaters engaging in a net-front battle can be responsible for disallowing goals. Maurice pointed to a potential goalie interference situation in the Nashville-Vancouver series as interesting because of contact within the crease.

Brind'Amour echoed Cooper's use of the word “egregious” as a key need for evidence to reverse a call on the ice. And no one knows when the next time goalie interference will play a key role in a playoff game this spring.

“The puck’s by the goalie on some of these and you get hit and then it’s still — like, it’s a judgment call — and so it’s somebody’s opinion and my opinion and your opinion might be different on these,” Brind'Amour said. “That’s why this whole thing is tough because it does come down to opinions.”

AP Sports Writers Tim Reynolds in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Aaron Beard in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Pat Graham in Denver contributed.

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

A shot from Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman gets past Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky for a goal during the second period of Game 5 of the first-round of an NHL Stanley Cup Playoff series, Monday, April 29, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Boston Bruins center Pavel Zacha (18) goes over Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) during the second period of Game 1 of the second-round series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Monday, May 6, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)