Anaheim, CA – David Price pitched seven innings for his major league-leading 16th win, and the Tampa Bay Rays continued their amazing shutout streak of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in a 7-0 victory Thursday night.
The Rays have blanked the Angels the last 32 innings. Tampa Bay shut out the Angels in the final two contests of a series late July in Anaheim and has won nine of the last 10 meetings.
Price (16-4) continued his spectacular pitching by allowing three hits and striking out eight batters to win his franchise-record eighth straight decision.
"When we score early it makes it easier on pitchers," Price said. "I've been throwing the ball well over the past couple of games. I threw whatever the situation called for. We're playing extremely well right now."
The left-hander is unbeaten over his last 11 starts and hasn't lost since June 13 against the New York Mets.
Ben Zobrist, B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria homered for the Rays, who snapped a two-game skid and won for the eighth time in the last 10 contests.
Dan Haren (8-10) was touched for seven hits and five runs over 3 2/3 innings, as the Angels lost for the fourth time in six games.
"The ball wasn't coming out of Dan's hand like it should have," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "Dan needs to command the ball better."
Burke Badenhop and Wade Davis each gave up a hit over the final two innings in the opener of this four-game series.
The Rays were victimized by Felix Hernandez's perfect game in Seattle on Wednesday, but a night later the bats were impressive.
Zobrist's solo homer to right-center field was upheld after a video review. The ball hit off a railing behind the green wall in right field.
The Rays padded their lead to 5-0 in the fourth inning. Upton homered to left field leading off the inning. Longoria singled with one out and Zobrist doubled to right field. Jeff Keppinger then slapped a two-run single to left field on a ball that was deflected by third baseman Alberto Callaspo.
After Carlos Pena singled, Ryan Roberts capped the outburst with a sacrifice fly to center field.
"Getting a hit early was nice, then everybody poured it on," Zobrist said. "Tip your cap to what happened yesterday, but things went well today. I was glad to be able to get a run on the board early. We knew if we could get a couple of runs early it would make it more comfortable for David."
Longoria homered to center field in the fifth with Matt Joyce aboard.
The Angels went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Twice they had a runner at third, in the fifth and seventh innings. Chris Iannetta struck out in the fifth and Vernon Wells fanned to end the seventh frame.
Game Notes
Right-hander Steven Geltz, who had his contract selected from Triple-A Salt Lake on Saturday, made his major league debut in the ninth inning ... Price tied a Rays record by throwing at least seven innings in 11 straight starts. His ERA is 1.72 in that span ... The Rays, who are 10 games over .500, are tied with Baltimore atop the wild card standings.
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