Nick Martinez tossed six shutout innings and Yandy Diaz recorded his 1,000th career hit with Tampa Bay as the Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-0 on Saturday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Martinez (10-2) allowed four singles with no walks and five strikeouts. He has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 19 of his 20 starts this season.
Cole Sulser and Garrett Cleavinger each pitched a scoreless inning before Bryan Baker worked around a one-out single in the ninth for his 27th save.
Chandler Simpson and Diaz had two hits apiece for Tampa Bay, which recorded its seventh shutout and won for the fifth time in its last six games.
Diaz lined a leadoff single to right field in the first inning against Tanner Bibee (4-10) to become the fourth player in franchise history to record 1,000 hits with the team.
Cleveland lost its fourth straight game and has scored a total of four runs in its last three.
Tampa Bay threatened to move ahead with the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth inning, but Bibee escaped unscathed on Ben Williamson’s groundout.
The Rays broke the scoreless tie in the fifth. Diaz hit a one-out double and moved to third on Jonathan Aranda’s single before scoring on Junior Caminero’s double off the right-field wall. Cedric Mullins followed with a sacrifice fly to put Tampa Bay ahead 2-0.
With runners on the corners and one out in the sixth, the Rays added to their lead when Victor Mesa Jr. scored on Hunter Feduccia’s sacrifice bunt.
Bibee yielded three runs on nine hits over six innings. He walked two and struck out five while throwing a season-high 107 pitches.
The Guardians were stymied by Martinez, who threw 60 of his 84 pitches for strikes and lowered his ERA to 2.45, second best in the American League.
Cleveland drew its first and only walk of the day when pinch-hitter David Fry walked with two outs in the eighth. Steven Kwan followed by lining out to center.
–Field Level Media
