Brady Singer tosses gem to secure Reds sweep of Rays

Brady Singer bounced back from one of his worst outings of the season by allowing just one run in 7 1/3 innings as the Cincinnati Reds completed a three-game series sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays, 2-1, Sunday in Cincinnati.
The Reds have followed up a three-game skid with a four-game winning streak and improved to 6-3 since the All-Star break, with Thursday’s trade deadline looming. Cincinnati also improved to 56-50, a season-high six games over .500.
Tampa Bay, on the other hand, lost its seventh straight on the road and has won just three of 16 on the road since a sweep of Kansas City June 24-26. Overall, the Rays have lost 18 of 25 since June 27.
Singer (8-8) allowed just one run and three hits over 7 1/3 innings, six days after allowing seven runs over 2 1/3 innings last Monday in a 10-8 loss to Washington. Throwing for a third consecutive day, Emilio Pagan pitched a scoreless ninth for his 22nd save.
The game didn’t start smoothly for Singer, who allowed a leadoff single to Chandler Simpson and hit the second batter Yandy Diaz with a pitch.
But catcher Jose Trevino threw out Simpson trying to steal second to help Singer get out of further trouble. Singer retired the next six batters before hitting Matt Thaiss with one out in the third.
Singer lost his shutout with one out in the eighth when Taylor Walls belted a first-pitch breaking ball to the seats in right for his fourth homer, cutting Cincinnati’s lead to 2-1.
It was Walls’ error on Saturday night that opened the door for Cincinnati’s first two runs in a 6-2 Cincinnati victory. The frustration continued Sunday in the first inning when he could not field a chopper over the mound from Austin Hays cleanly, allowing TJ Friedl to score from second base.
Gavin Lux followed with a chopper that first baseman Jonathan Aranda fielded, but he couldn’t throw out Matt McLain at the plate. Instead Aranda threw onto first for an RBI groundout and it was 2-0 Cincinnati.
It was a tough luck start for right hander Shane Baz (8-7), who threw four shutout innings after the two-run first. Baz allowed just those two runs and five hits over five innings, striking out five and walking two.