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A's oust Rays

Jul 27, 2011 - 7:32 AM Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Brandon McCarthy allowed one run through eight strong innings to lead the Oakland Athletics to a 6-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in the second portion of a four-game series.

McCarthy (3-5) scattered six hits and two walks while fanning three in Oakland's seventh win in 11 games.

"That's as good as I've seen [McCarthy]. He had the ball down in the zone and good movement on everything," Athletics manager Bob Melvin.

Cliff Pennington went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored and Scott Sizemore reached base four times, including three walks, and crossed the plate for three of the A's runs.

David Price (9-9) allowed four runs on seven hits and four walks through six innings for the loss.

Ben Zobrist's homer in the eighth accounted for the Rays' lone run. They have dropped four of their last five.

Oakland struck first in the third. Sizemore walked to lead off the frame, advanced to third on Pennington's single and crossed the plate on a Jemile Weeks sacrifice fly to right.

Josh Willingham worked a one-out walk in the fourth, moved up to third on a Conor Jackson base hit and came home on David DeJesus' sacrifice fly.

The A's extended their lead ever further in the fifth when Hideki Matsui doubled off the wall in right-center to bring in Pennington, who singled to start the inning and moved to second on a Weeks sacrifice bunt.

Oakland kept the runs coming in the sixth on Pennington's two-out, RBI double that gave the A's a 4-0 lead.

Kurt Suzuki's two-run double into the right-center field gap off of Jay Buente in the eighth made it a 6-1 game.

Prior to Zobrist's homer, Tampa Bay did not have a runner touch third base in the contest. They did have a runner on second in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings, but could not get the key hit they needed, finishing the day 0- for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranding eight men on base.

"We've pitched well, we've just been very inconsistent on offense," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Our runners in scoring position offense has not been the best all year, and that's where we're coming up short right now."

Game Notes

The Rays tied a major league record Tuesday when they started a pitcher under the age of 30 for the 704th consecutive game. The 1913-1917 Washington Senators set the record...Price has now lost three of his last four decisions...Pennington extended his hit streak to 10 games...McCarthy improved to 2-2 in eight games -- seven starts -- against the Rays.