Shane Baz fired seven shutout innings Friday night and the visiting Tampa Bay Rays nipped the San Diego Padres 1-0.
Baz (3-0) permitted just four hits and a walk while striking out six. Manuel Rodriguez worked the eighth, preserving the shutout by slipping a called third strike past Xander Bogaerts to strand Fernando Tatis Jr. on second after a two-out double.
Garrett Cleavinger pitched the ninth for his first save of the season.
San Diego got the tying run aboard with one out in the ninth when Gavin Sheets reached first despite striking out, as catcher Ben Rortvedt couldn’t handle the sweeper on strike three for a passed ball. But on Oscar Gonzalez’s shallow fly ball, right fielder Kameron Misner made a sliding catch and then doubled off pinch-runner Mason McCoy for the third out. Both calls survived a short replay review.
Michael King (3-1) absorbed the loss despite yielding only four hits and an unearned run in five innings. He walked one and struck out nine. San Diego’s five pitchers combined for a season-high 17 strikeouts.
But Tampa Bay scratched out its run in the third with the help of a throwing error by shortstop Bogaerts at short. It allowed Taylor Walls to reach base to start the inning. Chandler Simpson and Brandon Lowe singled to fill the bases, and Yandy Diaz lifted a sacrifice fly to left that easily scored Walls.
San Diego had two decent chances to reach Baz. In the third, Tyler Wade and Tatis stroked two-out singles, but Baz fanned Bogaerts. In the seventh, Jose Iglesias was hit by a pitch with two outs. He swiped second but Baz induced a pop-up from Tirso Ornelas on his 97th and final pitch of the night.
Tatis was the only player in the game with two hits, but the Padres lost for just the second time in 14 home games. San Diego has gone scoreless in its last 25 innings overall, dating back to a 2-0 win on Tuesday night in Detroit.
The Rays won their third straight game.
