Rays 9, Mariners 1
Matt Joyce hit a two-run homer, B.J. Upton homered and tripled and Matt Garza pitched seven strong innings as the Tampa Bay Rays earned a 9-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners to move 1 1/2 games ahead of New York atop the American League East.
Garza (15-9) allowed one run on eight hits and had five strikeouts with no walks to join David Price as the only Rays with 15 wins. Tampa Bay’s magic number for earning a playoff berth is two.
Ben Zobrist doubled in a run and Dan Johnson had a sacrifice fly in the first. Joyce capped the four-run inning with a shot to right off Seattle's Doug Fister (6-13).
Upton hit his 18th homer and Carl Crawford drove in a run in the seventh for a 6-1 lead. Crawford was 3-for-4.
The Rays added three more runs in the eighth on an RBI single by Brad Hawpe, an RBI triple by Upton and a single by Reid Brignac.
Fister allowed four runs on five hits in six innings.
Franklin Gutierrez drove in Seattle's run in the sixth inning.