Kevin Newman homered and fell a triple shy of a cycle while TJ Friedl drove in four runs to lead the Cincinnati Reds past the visiting Tampa Bay Rays 8-1 on Monday night.
Cincinnati starting pitcher Hunter Greene was removed prior to the top of the fourth inning after taking a 97-mph, one-hop ground ball to his right shin off the bat of Tampa Bay's Yandy Diaz in the top of the third inning.
Greene held the Rays scoreless over three innings, allowing three hits and striking out one. Greene was diagnosed with a tibia contusion and X-rays were negative.
Right fielder Jake Fraley and left fielder Stuart Fairchild made spectacular defensive plays for the Reds, who improved to 14-5 lifetime against the Rays.
Josh Lowe belted his fourth homer off Kevin Herget to open the ninth, extending Tampa Bay's string of games with a home run to 17 -- three shy of the record set by the Seattle Mariners in 2019. The Rays lead the majors with 37 homers in 17 games.
After starting the season 13-0, the Rays have dropped three of their last four games.
Greene gave up a leadoff double to Christian Bethancourt to open the third before taking the Diaz comebacker off his lower right leg. Greene was able to pitch around the double by striking out Brandon Lowe and getting Randy Arozarena to pop out.
Buck Farmer (1-3) relieved Greene to start the fourth inning. Farmer allowed one hit while walking two over 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Four Cincinnati relievers combined to hold the Rays to one run and five hits over the final six innings, with Ian Gibaut (1-0) getting the win.
The Reds jumped out on top in the second when Newman lofted an 0-1 fastball from Jalen Beeks (0-1) to the first row of seats in left for his second homer of the season and a 1-0 Cincinnati lead. Beeks allowed just the one run on the home run, walking two and striking out one in three innings.
Newman sparked the next Cincinnati rally as he doubled to open the fourth against reliever Kevin Kelly. Newman scored on a three-run double by Friedl to right-center to put Cincinnati up 4-0.
The Rays were able to load the bases in the sixth against reliever Alex Young in the sixth. But Manuel Margot, facing new reliever Gibaut, was robbed for the second time by a Cincinnati outfielder. Fraley came racing in from right and made head-first diving catch to end the inning and preserve the shutout.
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