ST. PETERSBURG -- Joey Butler, all he does is hit, according to his manager. Good thing, too, because without Butler, the Tampa Bay Rays would have fallen victim to the sixth no-hitter in franchise history
Cleveland’s Carlos Carrasco lost his no-hit bid with two-out in the ninth when Butler lined a single to right center field.
It was the Rays lone hit and it drove in their lose run in an 8-1 loss in front of 11,394 at Tropicana Field.
It was the Rays eighth loss in their last 10 games.
Carrasco was oh so close to joining Boston’s Derek Lowe (2002) and Arizona’s Edwin Jackson (2010) and the trio of pitchers to toss a perfect game against the Rays: Chicago White Sox’s Mark Buehrle (2009), Oakland’s Dallas Braden (2010) and Seattle’s Felix Hernandez (2012).