ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) Jacob Faria took a three-hitter into the seventh inning of his major league debut for the Tampa Bay Rays, who beat the Chicago White Sox 3-1 on Wednesday night.
The 23-year-old right-hander walked two and struck out five in 6 1/3 innings, settling down after falling behind three batters into the game to help Tampa Bay end a season-high four-game losing streak before a crowd of just 9,313.
Relievers Tommy Hunter, Jose Alvarado and Alex Colome finished the combined four-hitter, with Colome getting the final three outs for his 16th save.
A night after squandering numerous scoring opportunities in a 4-2 loss to the White Sox, the Rays sputtered early offensively against Mike Pelfrey (2-5), who escaped jams in the first two innings but couldn’t do it again in the third, when the Rays scored three times.