ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Taj Bradley tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts, Isaac Paredes homered, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Washington Nationals 5-0 on Sunday.
Bradley (3-4) allowed three hits and walked two over 5 2/3 innings in his fifth consecutive strong start. The right-hander has allowed four earned runs in 29 innings over the stretch.
Colin Poche, Jason Adam, Garrett Cleavinger, and Phil Maton completed a three-hitter. The Rays finished with 16 strikeouts.
Paredes, who had two hits in 23 at-bats over his previous seven games, went 3 for 4 and scored two runs. He needed a single for the cycle when he flew out against Tanner Rainey in the eighth.
José Caballero and Randy Arozarena also homered for the Rays (42-42), who returned to the .500 mark for the 17th time. Tampa Bay hasn't been over .500 since May 21.
Washington (39-44) went 3-6 on a nine-game trip.
Paredes hit a first-pitch homer leading off the second, and Caballero connected for a two-run drive off Patrick Corbin (1-8) as Tampa Bay opened a 3-0 lead.
Paredes hit his second career triple and first since June 9, 2021, to start the fourth. He scored on Jose Siri’s sacrifice fly.
Arozarena hit a seventh-inning solo drive off Jordan Weems.
Corbin gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Nationals: RHP Josiah Gray (right elbow-forearm flexor strain) allowed seven runs and six hits over three innings in his second rehab start with Triple-A Rochester and fifth minor league outing overall. He threw 43 of 73 pitches for strikes.
UP NEXT
Nationals: LHP MacKenzie Gore (6-7, 3.60 ERA) and New York Mets LHP David Peterson (3-0, 3.67 ERA) are Monday night’s scheduled starters
Rays: RHP Zack Littell (2-5, 4.17 ERA) will face Kansas City on Tuesday night.
With Joe Biden out and Kamala Harris in as the Democratic Party nominee, ABC Action News anchor Paul LaGrone took to the streets of Tampa to get your voice on the campaign shakeup.
