White Sox defeat Rays, complete 3-3 road trip

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Chris Flexen stayed on a roll with six innings of one-run ball, and shortstop Paul DeJong – one of five White Sox to collect two hits – led the way with a go-ahead home run and two runs scored in a 4-1 victory against the Rays Wednesday night.

Tommy Pham, Andrew Vaughn, Bryan Ramos and Andrew Benintendi each had two hits as the Sox tied a season high with 12 hits to salvage the third game of series against the Rays and complete a 3-3 road trip that began in St. Louis.

The Sox (9-28) are 4-2 against the Rays (19-19).

John Brebbia recorded five outs, three on strikeouts, and Michael Kopech pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save.

Flexen owns a 1.61 ERA over his last five outings (three starts). He struck out a season high eight batters, walked one and allowed three hits.

Ramos doubled and scored on DeJong’s homer against Aaron Civale, and, hitting to the right side to advance Andrew Benintendi, scored him instead with a single. He showed good instincts advancing to third but also almost crashed into catcher Martin Maldonado on a foul pop.

All told, he has made a good impression in his first five major league games.

“He doesn’t look overmatched,” general manager Chris Getz said. “This is a nice opportunity to boost his development.”

Ramos, who is 5-for-14 with a walk and two RBI, doubled off the left field wall.

“I said ‘Go ball,’ ” Ramos said. “Two more push-ups and that’s a home run.”

Right fielder Gavin Sheets doubled and walked twice and made long running catch of Jose Caballero’s pop-up near the foul line and easily doubled Isaac Paredes, who didn’t think Sheets would get to the ball, off second to end the seventh.

“I got a good read on it,” Sheets said. “I was in the right-center gap, could tell he got it off the end a little bit and just took off. Luckily it stayed up in the air long enough.

“When I caught it I was a little confused about where Paredes was. I saw him rounding third. Getting a double play was great.”

Getting a win was great for a struggling team that avoided being swept for the seventh time.

“To go 3-3 this trip, it’s a step in the right direction,” Sheets said. “It’s not fully where we want to be, but it’s a step in the right direction and that’s what you’ve got to take right now. You’ve got to take positives as we go.”

Flexen pitched five scoreless innings in a 9-4 win over Tampa Bay on April 26. On Wednesday, his fastball averaged 93 mph, a couple ticks above his season average.