Rays 1, Phillies 0
PHILADELPHIA -- Nathan Karns combined with five relievers on a four-hitter and hit his first major league homer as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 on Tuesday night.
The Rays, who had lost 10 of their previous 12 on the road, ended Philadelphia's four-game winning streak and spoiled the major league debut of Aaron Nola, the Phillies' first-round draft pick in June 2014.
Karns, who allowed career highs of seven runs and nine hits while losing 8-3 to Kansas City in his previous start, surrendered three hits in five shutout innings while striking out four and walking two. He also hit a batter while improving to 5-5.
Brad Boxberger worked a perfect ninth for his 24th save.
Karns' homer, a leadoff shot in the third inning off Nola, represented the first hit by a Rays pitcher in 24 at-bats, dating back to a double by Alex Cobb at St. Louis on July 23, 2014. Including Karns' 1-for-2 effort Tuesday, Tampa Bay pitchers are now 1-for-16 this season.
Nola, last year's seventh overall pick, was the first Phillies player to debut the year after he was drafted since another pitcher, Pat Combs, did so in 1989. Nola went six innings and allowed one run and five hits, while striking out six and walking one.
Nola (0-1) also picked up his first major-league hit, a fifth-inning single off Karns.
The decisive hit came in the third inning. Karns hit Nola's first pitch of the inning, a fastball, into the seats in left-center to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.
NOTES: Phillies 3B Maikel Franco did not start after an injured right elbow led to his removal in the late innings of Monday's 5-3 win over the Rays. Interim manager Pete Mackanin said the injury did not require an MRI and that Franco is day to day. ... Mackanin also said RHP Jerome Williams, activated from the disabled list on Monday, will start Friday against the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field. Mackanin had said Monday that Williams would work out of the bullpen, but he amended that Tuesday, saying Williams will be available in relief only in an emergency until his start. "I probably confused a lot of people," Mackanin said, "but I was a little confused myself, with everything that happened last night." ... The Rays activated RF Steve Souza Jr. from the disabled list and optioned OF Grady Sizemore to Triple-A Durham.