SEATTLE (AP) — Drew Rasmussen pitched seven shutout innings, Jonny DeLuca and Jonathan Aranda homered and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Seattle Mariners 2-1 on Friday night.
The AL East leading Rays (69-46) have won five of six. The Mariners have dropped seven of 10, and trail the final AL wild-card spot by 2 1/2 games.
Garrett Cleavinger and Kevin Kelly worked the eighth, Bryan Baker allowed a solo homer to Julio Rodríguez in the ninth in closing for
his AL-leading 33rd save.
Rasmussen (11-5), pitching in his home state, allowed no runs and two hits along with eight strikeouts. Over his last 19 innings, he's yielded just two runs and is 4-0 since the All-Star break. He got out of a bases loaded jam in the second, but proceeded to throw three straight fastballs to strike out Colt Emerson. After walking Cal Raleigh, Rasmussen retired the next 16 batters to end the night.
Besides two solo homers, Logan Gilbert (8-7) pitched 6 2/3 innings along with four hits, four walks and six strikeouts.
Jonny DeLuca's solo homer in the second was his eighth of the season. Jonathan Aranda's solo blast to right field was his 15th and put the Rays up 2-0 in the third.
Rays RHP Griffin Jax (6-9, 3.63 ERA) was set to face Seattle RHP George Kirby (8-9, 3.76) on Saturday.
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