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.

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