ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Entering the final month of the season, Rays manager Kevin Cash admitted to occasional scoreboard watching, keeping an eye on other teams in the playoff hunt.
Facing a direct wild-card competitor in the Cleveland Indians on Friday night, Cash had one less team to follow on the league scoreboard. Entering play, Cleveland sat atop the AL wild-card standings, 1 { games ahead of Oakland and 2 { ahead of Tampa Bay.
"We've got to control what we can control," Cash said before Friday's game. "We've got to get back to doing what makes us good, and that's really pitching well, defending and getting those timely hits."
Cash listed three items for success. His team easily checked off the first two as the defense supported starting pitcher Austin Pruitt's strong outing. The timely hits, however, looked like they might not come against Cleveland righty Shane Bieber.
Bieber faced the minimum through four innings, and he matched zeroes with the Rays pitching staff through six. With runners on first and third in the seventh inning, center fielder Avisail Garcia spoiled Bieber's outing with a ground ball single to left field that broke the stalemate by driving in Austin Meadows.
Garcia's single chased Bieber from the game. Two batters later, first baseman Jesus Aguilar launched a two-out, three-run homer off Adam Cimber, lifting the Rays to a 4-0 win in their return to Tropicana Field.
The Tampa Bay lineup went down quietly through the first four innings. Third baseman Joey Wendle was the first to awaken the home crowd of 15,294 with his two-out liner toward the short left-field corner in the fifth inning. Left fielder Tyler Naquin tracked the ball to make the out, plowing into the fence in the process. His catch kept Tampa Bay off the board, but it forced him to leave the game with a right knee sprain.
On the mound, Pruitt needed to keep the ball in front of his defense. The long ball undid Pruitt in his most recent outing, a start against Baltimore in which he served up three home runs at Camden Yards.
"Let's keep the ball in the ballpark," Cash said pregame. "Give ourselves a chance to make some plays behind him."
After Pruitt struck out the first two batters of the second inning, Indians catcher Roberto Perez laced a 108.4-mph single to right field. Naquin followed Perez with a ground ball double that rolled over first base into foul territory. Perez held at third, leaving both men in scoring position with two outs.
In the next at-bat, first baseman Jesus Aguilar sprawled out to his right to corral a slowly hit Yu Chang ground ball. Pruitt, racing Chang to first, received the ball from Aguilar to get out of the jam and strand two runners in scoring position.
The next inning, Oscar Mercado singled to center field. Three pitches later, second baseman Eric Sogard hauled in a Carlos Santana ground ball. He flipped it to third baseman Wendle, covering second base in the shift, to get Mercado. Wendle appeared to turn a smooth double play, firing from second to an outstretched Aguilar, but a replay review overturned the call and ruled Santana safe at first.
Pruitt worked his way around the double play-turned force out, striking out Yasiel Puig to end the third.
Pruitt lasted two more innings, getting the help he needed to post 5 1/3 scoreless frames and drop his season ERA from 5.57 to 4.78.
The Tampa Bay bullpen chipped in 3 2/3 scoreless innings as the Rays shut out the Indians and improved to 78-58.
