Taj Bradley scattered five hits over seven innings to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 2-0 win over the visiting Cleveland Guardians on Friday to open a three-game series in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Bradley (4-4) walked two and struck out eight, including All-Star David Fry pinch-hitting with a runner at second to end the seventh. Colin Poche fanned a pair in the eighth, while Jason Adam struck out the side in the ninth to pick up his fourth save and lower his ERA to 1.71.
Yandy Diaz went 3-for-5 with an RBI, Alex Jackson doubled twice and scored two runs and Josh Lowe also had two hits for Tampa Bay, which won for the third time in its last four games. The Rays, who finished just 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position, got back to the .500 mark (47-47) with the victory.
Daniel Schneemann went 2-for-3 with a double for Cleveland, which suffered its third straight loss. Carlos Carrasco (3-7) allowed two runs (one earned) over five innings. He walked one and struck out three.
Tampa Bay capitalized a throwing error by Schneemann to take a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Jackson reached first on the error to open the inning, advanced to third on a single by Diaz and scored when Brandon Lowe grounded into a double play.
The Rays extended their lead to 2-0 in the fifth when Jackson led off with a double into the left-center-field gap and then scored on Diaz’s bloop double down the right field line.
Tampa Bay blew a chance to break the game open in the seventh.
Diaz and Brandon Lowe started the inning with back-to-back singles off reliever Scott Barlow, and Isaac Paredes walked one out later to load the bases. But Xzavion Curry, recalled from Triple-A Columbus earlier Friday, came on to strike out both Josh Lowe and Jose Siri to end the threat.