ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Alex Cobb bounced back from his worst outing of the season by throwing his first career shutout Thursday in the Tampa Bay Rays' 5-0 victory over Oakland.
Cobb (8-8) allowed four hits and struck out seven in the 26th start of his two-year career. In his previous outing, last Saturday against the Los Angeles Angels, he gave up 12 hits and eight runs in just 2 2/3 innings.
Those struggles came after he had won his previous three starts while posting a 1.29 earned run average.
The Rays won for the seventh time in eight games and inched within 2 1/2 games of the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East.
All of the Tampa Bay runs came in the fifth inning off Tyson Ross (2-9).
Jeff Keppinger opened the inning with an infield single, moved to third on a double by Luke Scott and scored on Ryan Roberts' sacrifice fly.
After Jose Molina drew a walk to put runners on first and second, Sam Fuld singled home Scott.
B.J. Upton then fanned for the second out of the inning, after which Matt Joyce doubled home two runs and Evan Longoria singled in another.
Oakland did not get a hit until the fourth inning and advanced only two runners past first base.
