Shane Baz Goes 8 Scoreless, Rays Finish Off Sweep of Royals With 4-0 Win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Now that was impressive.

We're often spoiled by the quality of Tampa Bay's pitching staff, but they hit a real high note on Thursday afternoon in Kansas City. Shane Baz was brilliant, pitching eight scoreless innings and retiring 19 batters in a row in one stretch in the Rays' 4-0 victory.

It was their second shutout in less than 24 hours, and they allowed only one run during the three-game series. They are 46-35 now at the halfway point, 11 games over .500 for the first time all season.

And they are turning heads and taking breaths away.

"He was really really good, set a tone early on and was really efficient,'' Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said of Baz's 97-pitch outing. "He had nasty stuff, really worked the cutter in a lot and had great results. He was really sharp, with a big fastball and a lot of strikes.''

Baz allowed a double to Jonathan India to open the bottom of the first, but then he retired 19 batters in a row. The streak ended in the seventh inning with an infield dribbler for a single by Vinnie Pasquantino and Makiel Garcia followed with a single to right. But Baz got a double play ball to end the threat.

He came out for the eighth and got three more outs around a walk. Newcomer Paul Gervase came in to pitch the ninth, and he gave up a leadoff single to India, and Pasquantino laid down a bunt against the shift for a one-out hit.

Cash wasn't messing around, so he brought in closer Pete Fairbanks. Garcia hit a rocket up the middle, but shortstop Taylor Walls made a great play, flipped to Brandon Lowe at second and he threw to first to complete a game-ending double play.

"Not many shortstops make that play, but we end up getting two out of it,'' Cash said. "We've done a lot of really good things and we've continue to build momentum now for about a month and I know the guys are eager to see it continue.''

Once again, the Rays got plenty of offense too in the 10th straight games that's been decided by three runs or more. They took the lead with two runs in the fourth inning, getting a double from Jonathan Aranda, a triple by Jake Mangum and a single by Josh Lowe, all with two outs.

They piled on in the sixth, getting solo homers back to back from Brandon Lowe, his 16th of the year, and Junior Caminero, who got his 20th. Lowe has now hit safely in 13 straight games, the longest active streak in the majors after teammate Yandy Diaz, who was at 15 straight, went 0-for-3 on Thursday.

The Royals — who had swept the Rays in Tampa earlier this year by allowing just three runs in three games — only scored one run the entire season, and that was a meaningless number with two outs in the bottom of the ninth of Tuesday's 5-1 Rays win. They were just 12-for-91 in the series — a .132 batting average — and eight of them were singles.

The Rays are now just a half-game out of first place in the American League East. They jet off to Baltimore now for a three-game weekend series at Camden Yards. The two teams just met last week in Tampa, splitting the four-game series. Ryan Pepiot, Zack Littell and Taj Bradley are the scheduled starters.