CHICAGO — Tim Anderson and the Chicago White Sox finally got to Robbie Ray.
With a little help from the weather.
Anderson homered and drove in three runs in the rain, and the banged-up White Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Wednesday night.
Ray (1-1) was charged with six runs and 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings in his first loss with his new team. He won the AL Cy Young Award last year with Toronto and agreed to a $115 million, five-year contract with Seattle in November.
The left-hander started two games against Chicago last season, recording a 1.35 ERA and striking out 27 in 13 1/3 innings. But he was knocked around by the White Sox this time.
“We had a little chance to do more homework,” Anderson said, “and we had a plan and we succeeded with our plan.”
Asked about the rainy conditions, particularly during a rough second inning, Ray said he wasn’t going to make any excuses. But a smiling Dallas Keuchel felt he caught a bit of a break in his first start of the year for Chicago.
“The Lake (Michigan) gods were kind to us a little bit,” Keuchel said. “It rained on Robbie and it sprinkled on me.”
Eloy Jiménez and Luis Robert also connected, helping Chicago to its fourth straight win since its dramatic loss at Detroit on opening day. Keuchel pitched five innings of three-run ball in career win No. 100.
The White Sox have been hit hard by injuries already this season, and they lost two more players in their second home game. Jiménez departed in the fifth with a left ankle contusion, and second baseman Josh Harrison left after seven innings because of lower back stiffness.
Ty France homered and drove in two runs for the Mariners, who lost their fourth straight game.
“Just couldn’t get enough going offensively,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said.
Chicago was clinging to a 4-3 lead when Adam Engel robbed pinch-hitter Jesse Winker of a leadoff homer in the sixth, making a leaping grab at the wall in right. White Sox reliever Kyle Crick threw his arms up in celebration after Engel came down with the ball.
Anderson and Robert then hit back-to-back homers in the seventh, and Liam Hendriks worked the ninth for his second save. Hendriks surrendered J.P. Crawford’s RBI single before closing it out.
“The effort by the bullpen … that’s high quality stuff against a very good opponent,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said.
The start of the game was delayed for 47 minutes, and it rained for much of the night. The grounds crew spent almost as much time on the field as the players.
It really picked up with Ray on the mound in the second, and the White Sox took advantage.
“The second inning was probably the hardest it rained all night,” Servais said.
Jiménez led off with a deep drive to left for his first extra-base hit of the season. Jake Burger singled in Andrew Vaughn with one out, and Anderson made it 4-1 with a two-run double.
“They just were aggressive and they strung hits together right when they needed to,” Ray said. “I mean take out that second inning, I feel pretty good about that start.”
Keuchel (1-0) had to deal with increased rain in the fifth, and the Blue Jays pushed across two runs to pull within one.
Crawford slid home safely when Keuchel picked up Dylan Moore’s dribbler and sent a high flip to Yasmani Grandal at the plate. France had a run-scoring groundout, but Keuchel limited the damage by retiring Mitch Haniger on a foul popup for the final out.
MR. 100
Keuchel struck out five and walked none. The 34-year-old left-hander, who had a career-high 5.28 ERA last year, said he got the scorecard for his milestone win and planned to authenticate his jersey.
“The hardest part is going to be getting the ball from Liam,” he said. “He likes to authenticate and keep all of his saves. So I’m going to have to offer up something. I told him to think about it.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: RHP Sergio Romo was placed on the 10-day injured list with shoulder inflammation. The move was made retroactive to Tuesday, a day after the reliever pitched a scoreless inning at Minnesota in his 800th major league appearance. RHP Matt Koch was promoted from Triple-A Tacoma, and RHP Casey Sadler (shoulder) was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
White Sox: RHP Lance Lynn said he is ahead of schedule in his recovery from right knee surgery. “But we’ll see how that goes because there’s still a lot of work left to do,” he said. Lynn had surgery this month and is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks.
UP NEXT
Right-handers Logan Gilbert and Jimmy Lambert start the series finale on Thursday. Gilbert (0-0, 1.80 ERA) pitched five effective innings in Seattle’s 4-3 victory at Minnesota on Saturday. Lambert is making his first appearance for Chicago this year and his fourth start in the majors.
