ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Taj Bradley limited AL Central-leading Cleveland to five hits in seven innings to help the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Guardians 2-0 on Friday night.
Bradley (4-4) struck out eight and walked two in his seventh consecutive strong start. The right-hander has given up five earned runs over his 42 innings.
“I had a calmness today,” Bradley said. “Just trusting in my stuff now, just knowing it’s going to be what it is.”
Colin Poche struck out two in a perfect eighth before Jason Adam had three strikeouts in an 1-2-3 ninth to complete a five-hitter and get his fourth save. Tampa Bay improved to 47-47.
“We didn’t lose this game because of the runs we gave up,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said, “We struggled. Taj Bradley was outstanding. He was landing everything. Didn’t make any mistakes."
Major league batting leader Steven Kwan went 1 for 4 for the Guardians, who have lost 10 of 16. He is hitting .359.
Light-hitting catcher Alex Jackson was hitless in 26 a-bats before getting a leadoff double in the fifth off Carlos Carrasco (3-7), and scored to put the Rays up 2-0 on Yandy Díaz's groundball double down the first-base line.
Jackson reached on an error to start the third, went to third on Díaz’s flare single to right, and came home on Brandon Lowe's double-play grounder.
Jackson went 2 for 4 to raise his average from .062 to .086. Díaz finished with three hits.
Bradley said a key part of his success is Jackson's handling of game preparation.
“It was just working together, kind of just building a relationship,” Jackson said. “Getting to a point where we have trust and we’re in this together.”
Carrasco gave up two runs, one earned, and six hits over five innings. The 37-year old has gone at least five innings in six consecutive starts.
“Cookie was outstanding,” Vogt said. “He gets into jams, but he finds a way to wiggle out. This guy knows how to pitch and that’s the one thing with Cookie. we know he’s going to give us an opportunity to win.”
The Rays had a runner on third with two outs in the second when Richie Palacios hit an 108.5 mph smash that went airborne off first base to first baseman Josh Naylor, who won the race to the bag to get the out.
Guardians: Reliever Sam Hentges (left shoulder inflammation) was placed on the 15-day IL. “It seems to be manageable right now, but we don’t want to do anything detrimental for him," Vogt said, … RHP Xzavion Curry was recalled from Triple-A Columbus, and struck out two with the bases loaded in the seventh. … LHP Matt Boyd (Tommy John surgery) had his second batting practice session on Thursday.
Rays: RHP Drew Rasmussen (right elbow internal brace surgery) will throw batting practice on Saturday and then is set to join Triple-A Durham after the All Star break.
Cleveland RHP Gavin Williams (0-1, 4.82 ERA) and Tampa Bay RHP Zack Littell (3-6, 4.44 ERA) are set to start Saturday.