CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The starter throws seven shutout innings. The defence makes a few big plays. One swing of the bat provides all the offence needed. Not a very flashy way to win, but its working for the Tampa Bay Rays. Alex Cobb went seven innings on Saturday, extending Tampa Bays run of solid starting pitching, and James Loney homered for a 1-0 victory over the slumping Cincinnati Reds. The Rays came into the interleague series with a 1-8 mark against Cincinnati. Theyve taken the first two games with their simple formula. "We hit some balls well, they hit some balls well, their defence played great also," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "So just one of those days, man. We hit a homer and we win." Cobb (1-1) pitched seven shutout inning against Texas on Sunday but got a no-decision. He kept the scoreless streak going Saturday, limiting Cincinnatis struggling lineup to four hits without walking a batter. Hes now gone 15 1-3 innings without allowing a run. Grant Balfour, who fanned Brayan Pena with the bases loaded to end Friday nights game, got three outs for his fourth save in as many chances, finishing off the four-hitter. Cincinnati stranded a pair at third base and had runners thrown out at third and home, extending its run of wasteful offence. The Reds have lost all four of their series this season, falling to 3-8 for the first time since 1995, when they won the NL Central. They had a brief team meeting after the game. "It was just a friendly reminder of what weve got here and who we are as a team," Pena said. "It was a very positive meeting. The skipper (Bryan Price) got involved." Loney led off the second inning with his first homer against Alfredo Simon (1-1), who matched his career high with eight innings and allowed only five hits. The Rays opened the series with a 2-1 win Friday night, when David Price took a shutout into the ninth before Joey Votto homered with one out. Rays starters have thrown at least seven shutout innings four times in the last six games. It was Tampa Bays second shutout of the season, and the second time the Reds have been shut out. The Reds also were blanked 1-0 by the Cardinals on opening day. Both managers changed their lineups, looking for some runs. The Rays have scored only nine in their last six games, but managed to win three of them because of the impressive pitching. The Reds have scored 28 runs all season, second-fewest in the National League. Maddon stocked his lineup with left-handers against Simon. Price moved Votto from third to second in the batting order, the first time hed batted second since 2008. Neither move made much of a difference. Nice defence by both teams also kept it close. Votto led off the fourth with a ground-rule double. Kevin Kiermaier threw out Votto at the plate as he tried to score on Brandon Phillips single to centre. Phillips went to second on the play and was thrown out trying to steal third. "Kiermaiers throw today was the play of the game, the play of the season so far," Maddon said. "Hes an exceptional outfielder. Hes among the best major league outfielders today and hes only played one game here in the regular season." Kiermaier was optioned back to Triple-A Durham after the game, as expected. His throw home in the fourth was a good way to leave. "I wanted to come up here and contribute any way I could," said Kiermaier, who was called up Friday and told hed be in the majors for only a couple of days. "For me to throw Votto out at home, especially in a 1-0 game, just made it that much better. It was a pivotal time in the game." The Reds wasted another chance in the sixth, when Zack Cozart was hit by a pitch and advanced on a wild pitch and a sacrifice. Billy Hamilton hit a shallow fly and Votto grounded out. NOTES: LHP Erik Bedard was added to the Rays roster following the game. ... LHP Cesar Ramos moves from the bullpen to the rotation on Sunday, taking the place of injured Matt Moore. Ramos will make his fourth career start. Reds LHP Tony Cingrani makes his first career appearance against the Rays. ... Reds RHP Mat Latos had an MRI on his pitching forearm. It bothered him during a throwing session the previous day. Latos is trying to recover from surgery to repair torn knee cartilage on Feb. 14. Charlie McAvoy Jersey .C. United to a 4-1 victory over short-handed FC Dallas on Saturday night. Bobby Orr Bruins Jersey . The 30-year-old Moore played in 13 games for the Saints last season, catching 37 balls for 457 yards and two touchdowns. http://www.thebostonbruinshockey.com/customized/ . The 27-year-old forward has informed the Leafs that he will be unable to play in Monday nights home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Boston Bruins Jerseys . -- Derek Jeter spoke for 25 minutes, 44 seconds and answered 26 questions about his decision to retire at the end of this season. Brad Marchand Jersey . This is Lowry’s third time winning the award in his career. He won the award last season and as a member of the Houston Rockets in 2011.Dustin Brown deflected in a Willie Mitchell slapshot for the game-winning goal in double overtime, as the Los Angeles Kings rallied to defeat the New York Rangers 5-4 in Game Two of the Stanley Cup Final, taking a 2-0 series lead. The Rangers held 2-0 and 4-2 leads in the game, but couldnt hold off the Kings, who have won three straight games in the postseason without holding a lead at any point in those three gaames. Brown, the double-OT hero, finished the game with the worst possession stats among Kings skaters. Mitchell, the 37-year-old veteran, logged 34:07 to rank third (behind the top pair of Drew Doughty -- 41:41! -- and Jake Muzzin) among Kings defencemen for time on ice. It was the first time since February 25, 2012 that defensive-minded Mitchell, who scored the Kings second goal, had a goal and an assist in the same game. (Incidentally, in all that ice time, Doughty had no shots on goal and only one attempt.) While Mitchell might count as some unexpected production, the Kings are getting used to big performances from RW Justin Williams, who had three assists to give him 23 points in 23 playoff games, tied with Jeff Carter, two points behind Anze Kopitar for the lead in the playoffs. Williams has eight points in his past four games, a stretch during which hes been on for 57.5% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts when hes on the ice. In a game that had many brilliant and exciting plays, the one that stands out, unfortunately, was the Kings third goal, scored 1:58 into the third period, when Kings LW Dwight King plowed into Henrik Lundqvist as D Matt Greenes shot from the point deflected off King into the net, cutting the Rangers lead to 4-3. Considering other goaltender interference calls in the playoffs, and even earlier in this game, its hard to fathom how King was granted immunity for invading Lundqvists crease, but it paid off and King had a strong night in general, adding an assist and on for 63% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts when he was on the ice. Rangers D Ryan McDonagh collided with King at the edge of the crease on that goal, though King was already in the blue paint at that point. McDonagh was front and centre in the action, scoring a goal and an assist for the Rangers, but McDonagh was also on the ice for the last three Kings goals.dddddddddddd After the King goal, McDonagh had the puck deep in the Rangers zone, tripped over Derek Stepan and turned it over to Marian Gaborik, leading to the game-tying goal. In overtime, McDonagh was matched up on Brown as he tipped in the game-winning goal. LW Mats Zuccarello was a threat for the Rangers, launching a game-high 11 shot attempts towards the Kings net. Only three of those made it on net, but Zuccarello did put up a goal and an assist, giving him 13 points for the playoffs. RW Martin St. Louis scored a nice one-time goal for the Blueshirts, but was dominated in terms of possession, on the ice for nine shot attempts for and 27 against during 5-on-5 play. The Rangers line of Chris Kreider, Rick Nash and Derek Stepan was territorially dominant, on for more than 64.0% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts when they were on. Kreider had an assist and had eight shot attempts, but was impressive physically, recording a game-high nine hits. Nash had a game-high eight shots on goal (10 attempts), but couldnt find his way to the scoresheet -- the story of his playoffs, as he has the best puck possession stats of Rangers forwards, yet has three goals and 10 points through 22 playoff games. The Rangers have every right to be upset about how the Kings third goal was scored but, in the big picture, cant be entirely discouraged by the way the first two games in Los Angeles turned out. They got bad breaks that cost them in overtime, but the Rangers had enough opportunities in two road games to believe that they can hang with the Kings. Odds are against the Rangers coming all the way back, but lets see what they have upon returning to Madison Square Garden. If this years playoffs have revealed anything, its that leads, both in games and series, are not as safe as they once were. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '