Rasmussen (8 K's) nearly untouchable again

ST. PETERSBURG -- After facing one batter Saturday afternoon, Drew Rasmussen knew he wasn't going to be perfect. So instead, he just focused on dominating the Royals' lineup as much as he could.

As a result, Rasmussen took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and struck out eight, giving up two hits and two runs over 5 2/3 innings in the Rays' 5-2 win Saturday.

He has given up just three hits to the last 57 batters faced, a run stretched over 17 1/3 innings and four games.

"Giving up hits is semi-luck, but also, we're really good defensively," Rasmussen said. "So if you get ahead of hitters and you create contact that gives us a chance to make plays, I really like our chances of finishing those plays. It's going pretty good right now."

Manager Kevin Cash believed that Rasmussen was better on Saturday, in some areas, than he was in his last start against the Orioles when he took a perfect game into the ninth inning.

"His stuff was maybe a tick better than what we saw against Baltimore," Cash said. "The breaking ball, the spin to it, the depth that he was creating, the complement between the harder breaking ball and the softer breaking ball...and he did it against a bunch of left-handed hitters."

Rasmussen agreed that the breaking ball was the driving force behind many of his eight strikeouts Saturday.

"I thought I created a good amount of swing-and-miss on it, especially with two strikes," Rasmussen said. "It's just one of those things where we're going to try to keep building on it."

The Rays' offense provided enough run support in the second inning alone by getting to Royals starter Kris Bubic, who pitched well against Tampa Bay on July 24. Yu Chang had an RBI single that scored Francisco Mejía, and Isaac Paredes raced home on a wild pitch to make it 2-0. Taylor Walls tacked on a third run with an RBI double.

"We saw [Bubic] coming right out after the break and probably didn't have our best game," Cash said. "I thought our guys had good at-bats. Walls fell behind 1-2, 0-2, whatever it was, the wild pitch came and he stayed on it and came up with a big double."

Yandy Díaz added an RBI double in the fourth off Bubic and Chang later lofted an RBI sacrifice fly out to left in the eighth inning off Carlos Hernández to make it 5-2.

The Rays' lineup was boosted by the return of outfielder Manuel Margot, who had been out since June 20 with a right patellar tendon strain after crashing into the outfield wall at Yankee Stadium. Margot hit third and went 1-for-4.

"Nice to have him back," Cash said. "He had good at-bats, good swings. He certainly looked like the same guy. Even his foul balls were just misses. He looked like he was really on time."

With Rasmussen keeping the Royals hitless through five, there wasn't much offense needed. MJ Melendez, who drew the leadoff walk to start the game, broke up Rasmussen's no-hit bid with a one-out single in the sixth, and Bobby Witt Jr. roped a double to the gap in right-center to give the Royals their only real offensive threat of the game.

Melendez eventually scored on a sacrifice fly from Salvador Perez that ended Rasmussen's night after 89 pitches. Brooks Raley came in and limited the damage to just one more run on a hit by Vinnie Pasquantino.

"Anytime you got a pitcher who's able to locate like that, if he's in the zone, you want to jump on it," Melendez said. "Try to find a barrel. Because you get deep in the count, he has the advantage."

Unlike his last start, Rasmussen said he hadn't processed the thought of throwing a no-hitter yet and he was still a little steamed about giving up a leadoff walk.

"I wasn't worried about it through five. It's one of those things that I think after about the seventh you can think about it a little bit. Plus I walked the leadoff guy...that [stunk]," Rasmussen said.