KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Rays reached the halfway point of their season on Thursday with a 4-0 victory over the Royals that completed a three-game sweep.
Shane Baz delivered a dominant start, and the Rays offense again showed its versatility, getting two runs with a two-out, three-hit rally in the fourth and two more on back-to-back homers in the sixth by Brandon Lowe and Junior Caminero.
The win moved the Rays to a season-high 11 games over .500 at 46-35, improving their majors-best record since May 9 to 30-14 and since May 20 to 25-9. On May 19, they were a season-most five games under .500 at 21-26.
The Rays also moved to within one-half game of the American League East-leading Yankees, who were off Thursday.
Baz was dazzling, allowing a leadoff double to Jonathan India, then nothing else through the next five-plus innings, retiring 19 straight, before allowing back-to-back singles in the seventh and then getting a double-play grounder to end the inning.
For the afternoon, Baz worked a career-high eight innings, allowing three hits, walking one and striking out nine.
The Rays took a 2-0 lead in the fourth with a two-out rally.
All-Star candidate Jonathan Aranda doubled, then Jake Mangum followed with an RBI triple. Josh Lowe’s single made it 2-0.
They had a chance to add on when rookie Chandler Simpson tripled with one out in the fifth, but Simpson was picked off third.
The Rays then turned on the power in the sixth, with back-to-back homers by their top top sluggers — Brandon Lowe hitting his 16th, and Caminero his 20th.
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