Tampa Bay Rays at Chicago Cubs

· Major League Baseball

Tampa Bay Rays

6-6, 2-3 Away

Final
6 - 5

Chicago Cubs

6-5, 3-2 Home

Franco homers in Wrigley debut, Rays beat Cubs 6-5

Cubs rookie Seiya Suzuki drew three walks but his nine-game hitting streak came to an end, leaving him tied with Akinori Iwamura for the longest hitting streak by a Japanese-born player to start a career.

Playing at Wrigley Field for the first time, Franco finished 3-for-5, including the homer that put the Rays ahead 3-0. The second-year player missed Monday’s series opener with right quadriceps tightness.

“I’m very, very happy, obviously,” Franco said through a translator. “I was ready to play since yesterday.”

Franco's three-hit game was his fourth of the young season.

“Right now, you just don’t see him getting fooled at all,” manager Kevin Cash said. “He’s 21, unique, talented, special and we’re seeing all the parts of his game.”

Opener Matt Wisler got the first five outs for the Rays and Josh Fleming (2-1) worked the next 3 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on four hits. Andrew Kittredge, the sixth Rays pitcher, retired the final six Chicago batters for his second save. He needed just 20 pitches to do it.

“He’ll pitch in any role and we needed him right then,” Cash said. “He couldn’t have been more efficient.”

Justin Steele (1-1) allowed four runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Patrick Wisdom hit a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the fourth inning to get the Cubs within 4-3. Chicago had won two straight.

Manuel Margot had an RBI single in the second for the Rays, and Tampa Bay went ahead 6-3 in the seventh on run-scoring hits from Randy Arozarena and Harold Ramirez.

Nico Hoerner had an RBI triple in the seventh and scored on a wild pitch to get the Cubs within one run again.

REPLAY ROLLER COASTER

Arozarena was a winner and loser when the umpires called for reviews. A replay showed he beat a throw to first to keep the third inning alive. Franco homered three pitches later.

Franco doubled in the fifth and Arozarena took off from first. He was thrown out at the plate, however, on a nifty relay by Nick Madrigal. The Rays claimed Cubs catcher Willson Contreras blocked the plate, but the review didn’t go their way.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rays: LHP Ryan Yarbrough (left groin) threw off a mound Tuesday and Cash said he could make an appearance for Triple-A Durham as early as this weekend. Yarbrough (9-7 in 21 starts last season) has been on the 10-day injured list since April 11.

Tampa Bay’s Drew Rasmussen (0-1, 5.00 ERA) faces Marcus Stroman (0-1, 6.00) in Wednesday’s series finale.

How can I watch Tampa Bay Rays vs. Chicago Cubs?

TV Channel: Rays at Cubs 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.tv.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Villar struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Hoerner grounded out to third.
	9th Inning	Ortega struck out looking.
	9th Inning	Ortega hit for Frazier
	9th Inning	Ramírez flied out to center.
	9th Inning	Franco singled to left.

Statistics

TB		CHC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	1
13	Ground Balls	15
6	Strikeouts	6
6	Runs Batted In	4
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
10	Hits	5
0	Stolen Bases	0
4	Walks	4
0	Catcher Interference	0
6	Runs	5
1	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
35	At Bats	32
1	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
13	Runners Left On Base	8
1	Triples	1
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
3	Doubles	1
16	Fly Balls	11
0	Caught Stealing	0
149	Pitches	142
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	2
0	Pinch Hits	1
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	0
18	Total Bases	11
39	Plate Appearances	37
162.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
5	Extra Base Hits	3
6.2	Runs Created	3.2
.286	Batting Average	.156
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.500
.514	Slugging Percentage	.344
.343	Secondary Average	.313
.359	On Base Percentage	.270
.873	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.614
0.8	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.4
6.4	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	3.2
45.5	Batter Rating	30.5
35.0	At Bats Per Home Run	32.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.82	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.84
.229	Isolated Power	.188
0.67	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.67
.103	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.108
.057	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.156
12.0	Runs Produced	9.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	0.8
0.6	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.2
92.3	MLB Rating	77.0
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0