ST. Brian Gibbons Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The resurgent Tampa Bay Rays are on their best run in a decade. Ben Zobrist homered, Matt Joyce and Kevin Kiermaier each had an RBI single, and the Rays beat the skidding Boston Red Sox 3-0 Saturday night for their ninth consecutive victory. The stretch is the second-longest in team history, three short of a 12-game winning streak in June 2004. "Its really impressive," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "Its a total team concept going on right now." John Lackey (11-7) came up short in his first attempt at his 150th win, giving up three runs and eight hits over seven innings. Before the game, the Red Sox traded right-hander Jake Peavy and cash to San Francisco for minor league pitchers Edwin Escobar and Heath Hembree. Boston, last in the AL East one season after winning the World Series, has lost five straight. "I have to say its been a disappointing week. A little surprising even," general manager Ben Cherington said. "Anything we do between now and Thursday afternoon will be with a mind toward building as quickly as possible towards April of 2015." The non-waiver trade deadline is Thursday. Zobrist made it 3-0 with his seventh-inning shot. Grant Balfour (1-3) went 1 2-3 innings for the win, and Jake McGee pitched the ninth for his 11th save. The Rays (51-53) have used a 27-11 stretch since June 11 to go from also-rans to wild-card contenders. "It was really nice to get a win, but at the end of the day its a team win," Balfour said. "Right now thats what were after. We went through a lot in the first two months, and were trying to erase all those losses and turn them into wins." Jeremy Hellickson, coming back from right elbow surgery and making his second start this season, gave up five hits over 4 2-3 innings. Jeff Beliveau replaced Hellickson with a runner on and retired David Ortiz on a hard liner to first. Desmond Jennings had a bunt single in the first inning and advanced to third on catcher Christian Vazquezs errant throw. Boston manager John Farrell argued with plate umpire Chad Fairchild about Jennings route to first, but the call stood. "We were told there was no deflection," Farrell said. "The ruling was he didnt interfere with the play." Jennings scored on Joyces single. Kiermaiers run-scoring single in the fourth came right after Yunel Escobar was almost picked off second base, a close play Farrell decided not to challenge. "A challenge would have been nice there," Lackey said. "He looked like he was pretty out. They still might not overturn it, but you never know. Weve had it go both ways this year, but what are you going to do?" Ortiz was given a double in the first after a fan caught his drive near the yellow home run line at the top of the right-field fence. The call stood after a boundary area video review. Ortiz was left stranded when Mike Napoli struck out. Brock Holt was thrown out trying to score from second to complete an inning-ending double play in the third after Ortiz was retired on a grounder into shallow right field. The Red Sox also failed to score after putting runners on first and third with none out in the sixth. Balfour got the final two outs of the inning. "Consistency, thats been elusive," Farrell said. "The ability to string some base hits together has been elusive." Boston went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base in getting shut out for the 11th time this season. NOTES: RHP Allen Webster will come up from Triple-A Pawtucket to replace Peavy as Sundays starter. The Rays starter is RHP Chris Archer. ... Tampa Bay reliever Joel Peralta (illness) threw a scoreless inning for Class-A Charlotte and could return Monday. Artem Anisimov Jersey . The Trail Blazers lead the first-round series 3-2 entering Game 6 on Friday in Portland. A basket by Damian Lillard got the Trail Blazers within two points before James Harden stepped back and swished a 3-pointer to make it 103-98 with about three minutes left. James Wisniewski Jersey . The 22-year-old from Notre Dame started 29 games and had five goals and six assists this season. The league announced Monday that Powers received 93 per cent of team, media and player votes.The Winnipeg Jets will try to pick up another win on what has so far been a successful road trip when they visit the sliding Florida Panthers for Thursdays clash at the BB&T Center. Viewers in the Jets region can watch the game live on TSN Jets at 6pm ct/7pm et. You can listen to the game on TSN 1290 Radio at 6:30pm ct. The Jets were mired in a four-game losing streak before beginning their current stretch of six straight on the road. Winnipeg is 3-1-0 at the start of the swing and will complete the trip with two stops in the Sunshine State. After Thursdays tilt against the Panthers, the Jets will cap the trek Saturday in Tampa. Winnipeg is coming off Mondays 5-2 win over the New York Rangers, a victory that improved the Jets road record this season to 6-6-1. The score was tied at 2-2 after 40 minutes, but Olli Jokinen scored twice in the third period to help send the Jets to the win at Madison Square Garden. Jokinen gave the Jets a 3-2 edge at the 12:42 mark of the third and struck again with 1:54 remaining before Blake Wheeler provided an empty-netter inside the final minute. Devin Setoguchi and John Albert, making his NHL debut, scored 1:44 apart in the second period for the Jets, while Ondrej Pavelec earned the win with a 35- save effort. "I thought we got some good production from a lot of people," said Jets coach Claude Noel. Winnipeg won Monday despite playing without forward Evander Kane, who sat outt with a lower-body injury. RJ Umberger. The forward has seven goals and seven assists in 26 games this season and is questionable for tonights tilt. The Jets hope to stay hot on the road in tonights matchup, which has been a favorable one for the club in recent years. Winnipeg has won five of the last seven meetings against the Panthers overall, although Florida has three wins in the past five encounters in Sunrise. The Panthers enter Thursdays meeting on a three-game slide and have failed to earn a point during that skid. The club dropped a 4-2 home decision against Ottawa on Tuesday and the loss moved Florida to 4-7-1 since head coach Kevin Dineen was fired and replaced by Peter Horachek on an interim basis. Florida jumped out to a 2-0 lead against the Sens, but Ottawa would tie it by the end of the opening period. Ottawas Colin Greening then scored the game- winner on the power play with just 43 seconds remaining in the second. Jonathan Huberdeau and Brian Campbell lit the lamp for the Panthers, losers in five of their last six. Tim Thomas played well in defeat, making 41 saves. "Im very frustrated. I feel like were close but we still make those major mistakes that cost us all the time," said Campbell. Florida is completing a five-game homestand tonight. The Panthers began the stay on home ice with a win over Philadelphia before losing three straight in regulation to fall to 4-7-3 as the host this season. cheap nfl jerseyscheap jerseys ' ' '
