James Shields frustrates Boston Red Sox offence as Tampa Bay Rays win 4-0 – MLB Update
James Shields threw the third shut-out of the season on Tuesday, June 14 to help Tampa Bay Rays beat the surging Boston Red Sox 4-0 at Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg.
The win boosted the morale of the Rays’ manager Joe Maddon as he said, "Yes, we are the defending American League East champs and we plan on defending it, recapturing the flag again. Don't let anybody think anything differently."
Although it was the Boston Red Sox who entered in this three-game series as the favourites, Tuesday’s feat by the Rays pointed to their offensive strength.
The Red Sox were hardly permitted to settle when the game began on Tuesday. James Shields stormed into the supposedly dreaded and potentially devastating offence with skills otherwise unmatched for the starters.
Even the likes of Dustin Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis, not to mention Carl Crawford, could execute what was expected of them in the face of stormy fastballs pitched by Shields.
While Shields kept pitching scoreless innings, Tim Wakefield could not contain the Tampa Bay offence. Justin Ruggiano was the first to homer in the fifth inning, giving a 1-0 lead to the Rays against the Red Sox.
Shields was unyielding and provided no space to the Red Sox hitters to open their account. Wakefield allowed another run in the sixth inning, as Shields pitched his seventh consecutive scoreless inning.
In what was a brilliant pitching display by Shields, as he kept limiting the Red Sox hitters inning after inning. When Tommy Hottovy came to replace Wakefield, Casey Kotchman singled to shallow left to triple the Rays’ lead.
John Jaso scored a single in the same inning, which saw Hottovy give up three hits, taking the Rays’ lead to 4-0.
Shields, like other eight innings, pitched the scoreless ninth inning to win a glorious 4-0 victory for the team and announcing his pitching excellence for the teams confronting him in the days to come.
"This was a big game for us," the 29-year-old right-hander said. "We've been struggling at home, and to be able to open the series off like that feels really good."
It will be interesting to see how the Rays carry their winning momentum into their next match-up. The Red Sox put in a decent performance, but it was not enough to contain the Rays’ offence.
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