Diamondbacks 7, Rays 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Wade Miley survived five walks and two major rallies in 6 1/3 innings on Wednesday as the Arizona Diamondback momentarily slowed the rolling Tampa Bay Rays 7-0 at Tropicana Field.
Miley (8-8) allowed just two hits as he won for the fourth time in five starts. The Rays produced just three hits against three Arizona pitchers.
Trailing 4-0, Tampa Bay threatened in the fourth when Wil Myers singled with one out and Ben Zobrist sent him to third with a double. But Miley retired Sean Rodriguez on a shallow fly and struck out Ryan Roberts.
The Rays mustered one final uprising to chase Miley in the seventh, loading the bases on two walks and an error, but Heath Bell entered to strike out Desmond Jennings and Evan Longoria to end the inning.
Tampa Bay (64-44), which had produced a 21-5 record in July to claim the American League East lead, had a run of 10 straight series wins snapped. Arizona improved to 55-52 in splitting the two-game series.
Arizona took a 2-0 lead in the first inning after a controversial call at first base extended the inning. Martin Prado started the rally with a one-out double before Jeremy Hellickson hit Paul Goldschmidt with a pitch. Eric Chavez struck out and Hellickson nearly eluded trouble on an Aaron Hill chopper to short, but Phil Cuzzi ruled that Yunel Escobar's throw arrived late to first base.
Cody Ross, who went 3-for-5 banged the next pitch to left for a 2-0 lead.
The Diamondbacks doubled the lead in the fourth when Chavez followed a walk to Goldschmidt with his ninth homer of the season.
In allowing four runs on seven hits in just 4 1/3 innings, Hellickson (10-4) failed to provide the quality starting pitching performance to which the Rays had been accustomed to during their 25-2 run. David Price, Matt Moore, Hellickson and Chris Archer had gone at least six innings 24 times and posted a 1.83 ERA during the span.
Arizona took a 5-0 lead in the seventh on three straight singles, two off Kyle Farnsworth and a run-scoring liner by Chavez, who had three RBIs, against Jake McGee. Parra had an RBI single in the eighth and Goldschmidt hit his 24th homer of the season in the ninth inning.
NOTES: Rays LHP Matt Moore (14-3, 3.41) was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday because of a sore elbow. An MRI revealed no structural damage and the team expects him to be ready in about two weeks. Moore experienced discomfort while throwing changeups in his last start and again while playing catch. ... The Rays recalled Ryan Roberts, who started as 3B as Evan Longoria played DH. ... The Diamondbacks traded RH Ian Kennedy (3-3, 5.23) to San Diego on Wednesday. Padres GM Josh Byrnes had also traded for Kennedy in 2009 when held the same post at Detroit. Arizona received LH Joe Thatcher, minor league RH Matt Stites and a draft pick. ... Arizona DH Eric Chavez has hit two-run homers in consecutive games against Tampa Bay. ... Myers extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
