ST. PETERSBURG -- There are no moral victories in baseball, as the White Sox are finding out this weekend at Tropicana Field.

For a second consecutive contest, the White Sox battled the game’s top team in the Rays, and for a second consecutive contest, they suffered a walk-off defeat. Saturday afternoon's 4-3 loss in 10 innings elevated the Rays to 18-3 overall and 12-0 at home, while the White Sox fell to 7-14 with a third straight loss and 0-6-1 in series play.

It’s the most games below .500 for the South Siders since concluding the 2019 season at 72-89. That ‘19 team was not designed to contend for the postseason. The 2023 version certainly is.

“We are playing hard. We are competing,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “We had a chance to win both games.

“We’ve got a good team. I’m not going to question anything here. We got a good team. We prepare. We just gotta keep doing what we are doing.”

Here are four key moments Saturday as part of the White Sox first back-to-back walk-off losses since Sept. 22-23, 2020 vs. Cleveland.

10th inning: Walking Wander Franco
With pinch-runner Vidal Bruján on second and one out, Grifol intentionally walked Franco and pitted Randy Arozarena against reliever Jimmy Lambert. Arozarena already had homered and driven in three, and he completed his nearly perfect evening with a walk-off single to right.

“We liked the matchup. We liked the Lambert-Arozarena matchup,” Grifol said. “So, we’re good with it.”

What Grifol probably didn’t like was the White Sox failing to score or even advance pinch-runner Oscar Colás from second in the top of the 10th. Seby Zavala grounded out, Lenyn Sosa struck out and Elvis Andrus flew out to center.

Ninth inning: López returns
Reynaldo López gave up two ninth-inning home runs and a two-run lead during Friday’s loss, but Grifol was stringent in his assertion López would return Saturday if the high-leverage opportunity presented itself. López hurled a perfect ninth, striking out one, and clearly wasn’t shaken by Friday’s walk-off setback.

“I feel for Reynaldo, absolutely,” said Lambert before Saturday’s game. “But I wouldn’t say I feel sorry for him. Reynaldo López is, arguably, a Top 10 reliever in the league. What he did last year, if you look at his numbers over 65 innings, when that guy is right, he’s a Top 10 arm out of the bullpen in the league. He is going to be just fine.”

Fifth inning: Cease’s workload
A 35-pitch first inning, of which 20 were strikes, shortened Dylan Cease’s workload in this aces-high matchup against Shane McClanahan.

“At one point, I looked at my card and I think we went through the order twice and he had 90 pitches or something,” Grifol said. “They had some good at-bats against him and they ran up the pitch count.”

“I wasn’t efficient and I wasn’t very consistent. So it wasn’t great,” Cease said. “I was just falling behind a lot. I wasn’t executing fastballs very well. I kind of got into a groove with my slider a little bit later in the game, but really not having it that first inning cost me a ton of pitches. I adjusted decently well. Still, [I] need to be better.”

Cease worked four innings at 93 pitches, with Grifol trying to get him through the fifth or at least get a couple of outs. The right-hander gave way to Keynan Middleton with runners on first and third and nobody out, as the Rays pushed ahead the go-ahead run.

Eighth inning: Sheets pinch-hits
Gavin Sheets had not played since hitting a three-run homer on April 16 in a loss to Baltimore. But his left-handed power bat came through leading off against Jason Adam, launching his first career pinch-hit home run on a 94 mph fastball up and well out of the zone, per Statcast.

“Just was able to get on top of it and did some damage,” Sheets said. “I’m not trying to do too much in that situation, just going against a tough guy and trying to put a good at-bat together.”

Sheets has been doing a great deal of machine work, seeing high-velocity pitches, and trying to get as many game reps as possible in his on-field absence.

“You just control what you can control,” Sheets said. “Obviously, I want to be in there, but it’s staying ready for moments like that. It’s what I’ve got to do -- focus on what I can control and get ready for any at-bat that could come my way.”