Rays rally in ninth for 3-2 win over White Sox

In Monday night's series opener against Tampa Bay, Bobby Jenks played with fire in the ninth inning but got away with a singe and a save.

Loading the bases with two outs, Jenks struck out Jason Bartlett on a 3-2 cut fastball and the White Sox held on for a 4-3 decision.

Jenks wasn't so lucky against the Rays on Tuesday night.

The White Sox' closer again came on in the ninth, and this time Jenks got burned in a 3-2 loss.

Afterward, he relayed a message to the media through PR director Bob Beghtol.

"I'm going through a rough patch," Jenks said. "I'll figure it out."

With the Sox clinging to a 2-1 lead, Jenks got into immediate trouble while allowing a leadoff single to Bartlett.

After that, the burly right-hander hit Evan Longoria and yielded another single, to Ben Zobrist, which loaded the bases.

Jenks then walked Pat Burrell to force home the tying run, and Carlos Pena hit a sacrifice fly to score the winning run.

Jenks (2-3) got through the rest of the ninth with no further damage, but he was booed during the inning and as he headed for the dugout after blowing his third save try in 25 opportunities this season.

Afterward, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen stood by his closer.

"Not good," Guillen said. "He knows that. He's struggled for the past couple of days. We need him if we want to win. He's my man out there. You will see him tomorrow or the next day if we need it.

"He's my closer right now. It's not any different, but he pitched against a good ballclub. He made a couple of bad pitches and paid for it."

If any Sox pitcher was expected to struggle Tuesday, it was starter Clayton Richard.

Entering the game with his job on the line after going 1-2 with a 10.80 ERA in his last 5 starts, Richard delivered a brilliant outing against Tampa Bay, pitching a career-high 8 innings and allowing 1 run.

"It's just common sense," Richard said. "At this level, when you struggle so long, things have to get done. I felt real comfortable, and I think the key was just the command of my pitches, being able to throw them for strikes."

Not only did the lefty consistently locate his big fastball, which was a consistent 95 mph, Richard kept Tampa hitters off balance with the best curveball he has thrown all season.

"He threw the ball great," said White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski. "Obviously, it wasn't the result we wanted, but for him to give us 8 innings, 4 hits and 1 run, it was a great job. He deserves a lot of credit."

And Jenks deserves most of the blame, although the Sox' offense had a great chance to break the game open in the seventh inning, loading the bases with one out against Rays starter Jeff Niemann (9-4).

But the big right-hander got out of the jam, striking out Scott Podsednik and Alexei Ramirez.

"It's hard," Guillen said. "It was one of the best ballgames you can watch if you are a fan. Great pitching duel. It was just outstanding. Unfortunately, we went to the ninth inning with the best guy we have and he couldn't get it done."

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