Shields
follows Garza's no-hit gem with
strong outing
St. Petersburg, FL - One night
after Matt Garza pitched the first
no-hitter in Tampa Bay franchise
history, the Rays used a solid
outing from starter James Shields
and a timely RBI double by Matt
Joyce to defeat the Detroit Tigers,
3-2, in the continuation of a
four-game series.
Shields (9-9) tossed 6 2/3
innings allowed two runs on nine
hits with seven strikeouts for the
Rays, who have won four straight and
moved within two games of the
first-place New York Yankees in the
AL East. Carlos Pena hit a two-run
homer in the victory.
"I felt I had good command of
my stuff tonight," said Shields. "I
had my fastball working and that
sets up everything else."
Ryan Raburn drove in a run for
the Tigers, who have dropped four of
their last five contests.
Detroit's ace right-hander
Justin Verlander pitched a complete
game but suffered the loss.
Verlander (12-6), who lost for the
first time in his career against the
Rays, permitted three runs on five
hits with six strikeouts and three
walks.
With the scored tied at 2-2 in
the bottom of the sixth inning, Carl
Crawford laced a single to shallow
center field with one out and then
stole second. Joyce then doubled
down the right-field line to score
Crawford.
Tampa reliever Randy Choate
replaced Shields with a runner on
first and two outs in the top of the
seventh. Choate allowed a base hit
to Johnny Damon and then
intentionally walked Miguel Cabrera
to load the bases. The third pitcher
of the inning, Grant Balfour, then
entered the game and struck out
Brennan Boesch.
Joaquin Benoit struck out the
side in the eighth and closer Rafael
Soriano came on for a shaky ninth.
Soriano got the first out, but then
surrendered a ground-rule double and
a single to put runners on the
corners. Damon then worked a walk to
load the bases for Cabrera, who
grounded into a game-ending 5-4-3
double play for his 27th save of the
season.
"Longoria did a great job to
help turn that double play -- it was
just a real good win for us," said
Shields.
The Rays grabbed a 2-0 lead in
the first inning. A two-out walk to
Evan Longoria preceded a blast by
Pena deep over the wall in
right-center field. It was Pena's
22nd home run of the season.