Athletics 6, Rays 1
Brandon McCarthy tossed eight stellar innings while Cliff Pennington recorded three hits and an RBI as the host Oakland Athletics cruised to a 6-1 triumph over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.
Kurt Suzuki hit a two-run double, and Conor Jackson had three hits and scored a run for Oakland, which has won six of seven home games and seven of 11 overall.
McCarthy (3-5) limited Tampa Bay to five hits over seven scoreless innings before Ben Zobrist spoiled the shutout bid with a one-out solo homer in the eighth. The righthander recorded his second win in three starts after going 0-5 in his previous nine outings.
Jemile Weeks and David DeJesus gave McCarthy a 2-0 lead with sacrifice flies in the third and fourth innings, respectively. Run-scoring doubles by Hideki Matsui in the fifth and Pennington an inning later made it 4-0 before Suzuki capped the scoring in the eighth.
Matsui has collected 11 RBIs in his last eight games.
David Price (9-9) yielded four runs over six innings en route to his third loss in four decisions. Price has won only two of his last nine starts.
Casey Kotchman and Matt Joyce had two hits apiece for the Rays, who have lost 10 of 14.