Rays blow two multi-run leads in loss to AL-worst White Sox

Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times on Jul 23, 2025

Published in Baseball

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TAMPA, Fla. — Blowing a four-run lead in the second inning was a bad start for the Rays on Wednesday. But there was a worse ending, as they blew a two-run lead late and lost to the White Sox, 11-9.

Starter Taj Bradley had a rough and short night, allowing the Sox to quickly erase the 4-0 lead the Rays grabbed in the first on homers by Yandy Diaz and Junior Caminero.

Bradley allowed the first four Sox to score in a brutal second inning in which he allowed four hits and three walks and threw 41 pitches to get only two outs.

The Rays rallied back to build leads of 6-4 and 7-5, only to see Kevin Kelly fail miserably in the eighth, allowing the first five White Sox to reach and six overall to score.

The loss dropped the Rays to 53-50, 7 1/2 games back of the American League East-leading Blue Jays and 1 1/2 behind the Red Sox for the third AL wild-card spot. In winning two of three, the AL-worst White Sox improved to 37-66.

The Rays started the game with a bang, taking a 4-0 lead in the first off Sox starter Jonathan Cannon.

Speedy Chandler Simpson reached on an infield single and swiped second for his 31st steal before Diaz delivered his 17th homer.

Jonathan Aranda doubled, and then fellow All-Star Caminero doubled the lead with a 106.5-mph, 363-foot homer to right-center that was his 26th of the season, third most in the AL.

It marked the majors-most 34th time the Rays scored four or more runs in an inning.

But then Bradley gave it all back.

He allowed consecutive singles to Miguel Vargas (who moved up on a wild pitch), Kyle Teel and Luis Robert Jr., scoring one run.

Bradley then made his biggest mistake, leaving a 1-1 cutter over the plate that rookie Colson Montgomery launched 414 feet over the center-field fence for a three-run homer.

Bradley, who hadn’t allowed a homer in his five previous starts, stayed in to walk two, get two outs, then walk a third to load the bases before he was lifted.

It took the Rays a while, but they regrouped and took the lead again in the fifth. They loaded the bases on singles by Simpson and Aranda, and Caminero being hit by Cannon’s last pitch.

Josh Lowe, who’d been in a 4-for-46 skid, singled in the re-go-ahead run. Jake Mangum then hit a fly to left that Brooks Baldwin booted, scoring Aranda.

The Sox narrowed the gap to 6-5 when Teel opened the sixth by hitting his first big league homer off Joe Boyle. The Rays extended their lead to 7-5 when Taylor Walls led off the sixth with a hustle double, and Jose Caballero singled him in.

Then the Sox rallied in the eighth off Kelly to take an 11-7 lead.

Kelly started the mess by allowing a walk and two singles to score one run, then a walk and a two-run, go-ahead double to Montgomery. An errant throw by Caballero allowed the Sox to build the lead to 9-7. Singles by Mike Tauchman and Chase Meidroth (off Ian Seymour) made it 11-7.