BOSTON -- David Price saved his best stuff for his former team Sunday afternoon.

The one-time Tampa Bay Rays ace spun a gem against them, striking out 10 over eight scoreless innings as the Boston Red Sox coasted to a 4-0 victory at Fenway Park.

"Whenever you can go out there and put up zeros at this level, it's always a good feeling," Price said after holding his old mates to four hits and a walk while throwing 113 pitches.

It was the first scoreless outing in a Red Sox uniform for the five-time All-Star and 2012 Cy Young Award winner, who spent his first 6 1/2 seasons with Tampa Bay.

He had allowed fewer than two runs in only two starts entering the day in his first season of a seven-year, $217 million contract with the Red Sox.

"I was never discouraged," said Price, who allowed four-plus runs in six of his 18 starts coming in. "I never lost confidence in my abilities, and I know my coaching staff and my teammates didn't either."

Price's dominance carried Boston (49-38) into the All-Star break riding high with a fourth straight win and its seventh in nine July contests.

"This homestand is what we needed," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "Coming off a tough month of June, we gain a little momentum as we go into the break."

While the break probably isn't coming at the best time for the red-hot Red Sox, it certainly is for the ice-cold Rays.

Tampa Bay (34-54) has lost six in a row and a franchise-worst 22 of 25 games.

The Rays haven't been above .500 since May 20 and are 20 games under .500 for the first time since finishing 30 games below the mark at 66-96 in 2007.

After Sunday's loss, Tampa Bay had two fewer losses than Minnesota (31-56), which has the worst record in the majors.

"Obviously not the way we wanted to go into the break," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Hopefully we can erase a little bit of what's taken place over the last 25 ballgames."

"You can never start fresh until Opening Day, but somehow we've got to kind of maybe trick ourselves into thinking we're going to start fresh here this second half and just start playing some better baseball."

David Ortiz slugged a two-run homer, his 22nd of the season, and Mookie Betts added a pair of RBIs Sunday for Boston.

New reliever Brad Ziegler, acquired from Arizona the day before following Craig Kimbrel's injury, struck out two in a scoreless ninth in his Red Sox debut.

"We'll take two strikeouts out of every three each time he walks to the mound," Farrell said, "but we felt like his style, that submarine-type arm slot, that's a really good fit to the remainder of our bullpen."

Rays starter Jake Odorizzi (3-5) coughed up four runs in the first two innings but nothing more. He gave up six hits and one walk with four strikeouts over five innings.

"After the first inning I felt like I'd thrown the ball better than I'd thrown it in this whole past month," Odorizzi said. "So it's a good take into the All-Star break."

Betts singled to lead off the Boston first, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. Xander Bogaerts brought him home with a slicing sacrifice fly after Dustin Pedroia's double put runners in scoring position.

Ortiz followed with his homer, which landed in the first row of the Green Monster seats in left.

The Rays put pressure on Price in their first, as Evan Longoria doubled and Brandon Guyer reached on a hit-by-pitch, but Logan Morrison struck out swinging to end the frame.

Tampa Bay didn't put a runner on second base after that.

Betts blooped a single into right to plate Sandy Leon for Boston's final run in the second.

NOTES: Boston activated RHP Brad Ziegler and placed RHP Sean O'Sullivan (left knee tendinitis) on the 15-day disabled list. Ziegler was acquired from Arizona on Saturday. ... Tampa Bay acquired RHP Jaye Chapman from Milwaukee on Sunday. Chapman will report to Double-A Montgomery. ... Rays CF Kevin Kiermaier (left hand fracture) will rehab with the rookie level Gulf Coast League Rays on Monday and Class A Advanced Charlotte on Wednesday and Thursday before returning Friday. ... Red Sox 2B Yoan Moncada and OF Andrew Benintendi and Rays SS Willy Adames and RHPs Ryne Stanek and Chih-Wei Hu took part in the MLB All-Star Futures Game on Sunday. ... The Red Sox send six (DH David Ortiz, SS Xander Bogaerts, RF Mookie Betts, CF Jackie Bradley Jr., RHPs Steven Wright and Craig Kimbrel) to Tuesday's All-Star Game at Petco Park in San Diego; RHP Alex Colome represents Tampa Bay. ... The Red Sox will option RHP Noe Ramirez to Triple-A Pawtucket and recall LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (1-3, 8.59 ERA) to start at the New York Yankees on Friday and Rays RHP Chris Archer (4-12, 4.66 ERA) starts against Baltimore.