CHICAGO — Wednesday seemed like something of a race, with the Rays and Cubs battling not only each other but also the looming arrival of heavy rain that threatened to delay, interrupt or even postpone the game.
The Rays jumped out to an early lead and came out ahead on both ends.
A four-run first inning put them in command early, and they built that into an 8-2 lead when play was suspended midway through the sixth inning and eventually, after an hour delay, halted.
The win — games are considered official after five complete innings — improved the Rays to 7-6 as they completed their challenging season-opening stretch of 13 games in 13 days.
The Rays, who scored only six first-inning runs total through 12 games, got four in the first Wednesday, matching their season most for any frame.
They got one on Randy Arozarena’s one-out double after Brandon Lowe’s leadoff walk, a second when Arozarena came home on an errant throw after stealing third, and two more on Francisco Mejia’s two-out homer. The Rays made it 5-0 in the second when Wander Franco doubled in Lowe.
The Cubs got within 5-2 in the third, ending an inefficient night for Rays starter Drew Rasmussen, who threw 79 pitches to get nine outs.
The Rays kept adding on, with three more in the fifth. Josh Lowe tripled in Arozarena, who reached on an error. Mejia doubled in Lowe, ending starter Marcus Stroman’s night.
And Kevin Kiermaier, who exchanged lineup cards before the game with his brother Dan, the Cubs’ heads groundskeeper, got his first hit of the family reunion series, slapping a double just inside the third-base line to score Mejia.
Though the forecast for Wednesday night had looked threatening for days, manager Kevin Cash said the Cubs initially didn’t want to move the game up. But after further conversation between team executives on Tuesday, they agreed to starting 70 minutes earlier, at 5:30 Chicago time, ahead of what was forecast to be the heaviest rain.
Players on both teams were told Tuesday night that the change was possible, and it was made official around 11 a.m. Wednesday. Had the game been postponed, the Rays most likely would have had to return to Chicago on a previously scheduled off-day.
