Morton, Rays fire one-hitter vs. Yankees

Tampa Bay ace Charlie Morton made his final regular-season start a strong one, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning as the Rays boosted their wild-card hopes with a 4-0 win over the New York Yankees on Wednesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla. In their regular-season home finale at Tropicana Field, the Rays scored two runs in the first inning and let Morton, a two-time All-Star, take care of business against the Yankees, who lead the majors in runs.

Morton (16-6) fired six innings of one-hit ball, striking out nine, walking three and lowering his ERA to 3.05. Relievers Diego Castillo, Oliver Drake, Nick Anderson, and Andrew Kittredge completed the one-hit shutout. Rays pitchers struck out 16 and walked five.

With the win, Tampa Bay (95-64) temporarily tied Oakland (94-63) for the first American League wild-card spot and moved one game ahead of Cleveland (93-64). Both the Indians (at Chicago White Sox) and A's (at Los Angeles Angels) were in action later Wednesday night. The Rays finished 48-33 at home but were just 7-12 against the Yankees in the season series.

New York (102-57) scored one run in 21 innings while getting swept in the two-game series. After Tampa Bay pulled out a 2-1 win in 12 innings on Tuesday night, the Rays matched that run total in the first inning Wednesday against opener Jonathan Loaisiga (2-2).

Joey Wendle homered on a 2-0 pitch leading off the frame. The lefty hitter belted a 99 mph fastball from Loaisiga for his third long ball of the season. Austin Meadows, Ji-Man Choi, and Brandon Lowe soon produced singles to make it 2-0.

Morton baffled the Yankees with his curveball, spinning it up to the plate at a number of speeds, through 5 2/3 hitless innings. However, DJ LeMahieu inside-outed a single to right to break up the no-hit bid in the sixth. Morton followed that with a walk to Aaron Judge, but the righty kept the Yankees scoreless by retiring Brett Gardner on a grounder to second base.

Matt Duffy grounded a double inside third base with one out in the bottom of the sixth, and Avisail Garcia chugged all the way from first to make it 3-0. With Judge representing the tying run at the plate and two outs in the eighth, Anderson fanned the slugger with a 98 mph fastball.

Garcia (2-for-4) added an insurance run with a solo homer, his 20th, off Luis Cessa in the eighth.