ST. PETERSBURG -- A day after the Rays' bats shelled the Royals for 12 runs to snap a three-game losing streak, Jason Vargas kept them on ice in Thursday's matinee.
The left-hander allowed only three hits across seven scoreless innings and the offense backed him up with a five-run eighth as Kansas City prevailed, 6-0, at Tropicana Field for only its third series victory of the season.
Vargas was dominant all afternoon, giving the Rays (17-20) little in the way of good contact while striking out four and walking one. He allowed doubles to Logan Morrison and Peter Bourjos and a single to Corey Dickerson, but retired the last 10 batters he faced before being lifted with 96 pitches to lower his ERA to 1.