A White Sox lineup featuring five September call-ups -- well, four and Carlos Sanchez -- put together quite a show of power and patience in Tropicana Field's season finale.
Avisail Garcia hit a pair of homers and Marcus Semien added a big three-run blast as the Sox ran away with a game that wasn't as close as the final score suggests. They scored all 10 of their runs before the Rays collected their first hit.
Garcia proved Ed Farmer's axiom about "rally-killing homers" wrong on two occasions, as he started both of the Sox's big crooked numbers with solo shots. He turned around a Nate Karns fastball for a sizable blast to left center to open the scoring in the second, then beat him again by hitting a rolling slider a longer way in the same direction.
In both cases, Karns and Co. couldn't stop the bleeding.
Second inning: Karns plunked Dayan Viciedo, gave up a single to Jordan Danks, followed by a really impressive three-run homer by Semien, who somehow turned on a fastball in off the plate and kept it well fair.
Sixth inning: Viciedo singled to chase Karns from the game, but Alex Colome's luck wasn't any better. Danks and Semien singled to load the bases, and Andy Wilkins fouled off ball four twice before drawing a bases-loaded walk to stretch the lead to 5-0.
Josh Phegley brought in another run with the first out of the inning, a groundout to the left side that caused a collision between the shortstop and second baseman. Alexei Ramirez then smoked a two-run double to left center that glanced off the tip of Ben Zobrist's glove, and Jose Abreu cashed him in with a single for his 105th RBI.
With one out in the sixth, Danks gave up a double to Brandon Guyer to see his dreams of a no-hitter dissipate. He held the Rays scoreless after the four-run second, but he couldn't keep them off the board after the six-run sixth. He ended up with two runs on his tab, but he didn't come close to jeopardizing his 10th victory of the year.
Neither did the front end of the White Sox bullpen. Granted, Matt Lindstrom, Daniel Webb, Scott Snodgress and Ronald Belisario all failed to impress, but the tying run didn't even come to the plate in the ninth inning, so what's the big deal?
Bullet points:
*The White Sox also drew five walks, including No. 2 for Sanchez and Wilkins, and a pair by Moises Sierra.
*Sanchez made three nice plays at second base, winning a battle with the roof on a popup in foul territory, making a jump-throw from the other side of second base, and adding a charging play to finish it off.
*Sierra saved Lindstrom a run by catching a line drive and gunning down Yunel Escobar at home on a perfect one-hop throw.
*Joe Maddon came out to talk to Cory Blaser about three bang-bang plays at first. He didn't challenge the first one (the Sanchez charger), won the second and lost the third.
*Semien hit a fly ball that apparently got stuck in a catwalk. It was called a foul ball, and he followed it by chopping an infield single off the plate.
*The White Sox took five of seven from the Rays this season.
Record: 71-84 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights