Rays 4, Royals 0
Eight Tampa Bay pitchers combined on a shutout and Carl Crawford homered to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 4-0 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.
Tampa Bay (95-66) trails New York by a half-game in the American League East. The Yankees defeated Boston in the first game of a day-night doubleheader Saturday afternoon. The second game was scheduled for Saturday night.
Tampa Bay would win the tiebreaker if the teams finish tied for first place, as the Rays took the season series 10-8.
Chad Qualls (2-0), who retired Josh Fields on a double-play grounder to end the third, was given credit for the win by the official scorer.
Spot-starter Andy Sonnanstine allowed five hits in 2 1/3 innings, while 19-game winner David Price struck out one in a perfect fifth.
Kyle Davies (8-12) allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings to take the loss for Kansas City.
Matt Joyce's two-run triple in the first got the Rays on the scoreboard. Crawford followed with a two-out, solo homer in the third.
B.J. Upton hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth to complete the scoring.