Buchholz Throws 3-hitter, Red Sox Beat Rays 3-0

ST. PETERSBURG (AP) — Clay Buchholz threw a three-hitter to stop his string of seven starts without a win, leading the Boston Red Sox over the Tampa Bay Rays 3-0 on Sunday.

Buchholz (6-8) walked none and struck out six. Only one runner reached second base during his second shutout this season and the sixth of his career.

The right-hander's previous win came over Kansas City on July 18, five days after he tossed a three-hitter in an 11-0 win against Houston. He was 0-3 in that span.

Alex Cobb (9-7) gave up two runs and seven hits over 6 1-3 innings and took his first loss in two months. After losing to Pittsburgh on June 23, Cobb went 7-0 with a 2.14 ERA in 11 starts entering Sunday.

Since becoming the fourth team in big league history to reach .500 after falling 18 games under the break-even point, Tampa Bay (66-71), which has been shut out 16 times this season, has dropped 10 of 15.

Xander Bogaerts singled leading off the third, went to third when Cobb was charged with an error for a wild pickoff try and scored to put Boston up 1-0 on Christian Vazquez's single. The Rays have at least one error in eight consecutive games for their longest streak since a team-record, 11-game stretch in 2004.

After Mookie Betts had an RBI single in the fifth, David Ortiz made it 3-0 when he went the opposite way against a defensive shift and hit a run-scoring single through the vacated shortstop spot in the eighth.

Ortiz has reached base in 16 straight games. He has 152 RBIs against the Rays, the most of any opponent.