For the Tampa Bay Rays to have a chance to sneak into the third wild-card spot in the American League, they can’t afford to hit any speed bumps over the final 18 games.

They ran into a big one heading into their clash Wednesday night in Chicago against the White Sox.

Ryan Pepiot, winner of five of his past six games, was yanked from the Wednesday start due to what was characterized as fatigue. Instead, fellow right-hander Griffin Jax (1-7, 4.81 ERA) will take the mound as an opener.

Jax and company will look to keep the Rays (72-72) alive in the AL wild-card race though the task is extremely tall. The Rays trail the Seattle Mariners for the third AL wild-card spot by 4 1/2 games. The Texas Rangers, Cleveland Guardians and Kansas City Royals are ahead of the Rays in pursuit of Seattle.

To make things more difficult for the Rays, when they are done with the White Sox (55-90), 13 of their final 16 games will be against teams that current sit in playoff position. They have three with the Chicago Cubs, seven with the Toronto Blue Jays and three with the Boston Red Sox.

The Rays will need contributions from everyone in the final few weeks, including players such as Tristan Gray, who was acquired in a minor-league deal from the White Sox in July. On Tuesday, Gray hit a go-ahead solo home run in the seventh inning after Josh Lowe and Richie Palacios went deep earlier in the game.

Gray started his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2017 and was traded to the Rays the following winter. He became a free agent at the end of the 2023 season, then signed with the Miami Marlins.

He didn’t stick with the Marlins, then bounced around in the organizations of the Athletics and Pirates before signing with the White Sox on a minor league deal earlier this season.

The White Sox traded the 29-year-old infielder to the Rays for cash on July 26.

“He’s come up with some big hits, made some big plays for us,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I appreciate Tristan Gray and what he’s been through in his career to this date. He’s a good player, and he came up big for us today.”

Chicago has won seven of nine but was unable to complete a rally on Tuesday despite putting a runner on base in both the eighth and ninth innings. Lenyn Sosa contributed two hits and rookie Kyle Teel hit his seventh home run.

Teel’s 405-foot home run came off Adrian Houser, who was 6-2 with a 2.10 ERA in 11 starts with the White Sox before being traded to the Rays at the deadline in July.

“It was different facing him,” Teel said. “He’s a good pitcher. I just know he’s got an elite sinker and that’s what I got.”

The White Sox got three runs and four hits off Houser, who struck out nine batters in 5 1/3 innings. He took a no-decision.

“I think he did his thing and found some spots in the zone that he could attack and made it really tough on us. We know that Adrian is a really good one,” White Sox manager Will Venable said.

The White Sox did not announce a starting pitcher. Tampa Bay’s Jax is 3-2 with a 2.93 ERA and two saves in 31 career appearances (two starts) against the White Sox.

–Field Level Media