James Shields shines as Tampa Bay Rays defeat Texas Rangers 5-1 – MLB Update
The Tampa Bay Rays’ starter James Shields destroyed the strong Texas Rangers to heighten his club into a 5-1 win in the three-game series-starter at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg on Monday, September 5.
29-year-old right-hand ball thrower pitched a devastating four-hitter to record his best ever Major League complete game. He struck-out six batters over his 124 pitches in his 11th full game of his career. Shields worked 85 strikes off the total
pitches to get his 14th win that improved his record to 14-10 with a 2.77 ERA.
Shields impressed one of the best hitter in the Majors. Rangers’ Josh Hamilton seemed stunned by the way Shields completed his spell.
"He's got a good changeup, period," Rangers’ slugger Josh Hamilton said. "So, when you've got a good changeup, 90 (mph) looks more like 96. He looks so good to hit, and it drops off the table."
In his last game against Texas Rangers on last Wednesday, Shields worked eight shut-out innings to advance his club to a 4-1 win. The right-hand hurler became the first American League hurler to record eleven full games since Scott Erickson pitched in 1998.
"He's growing into this moment and he's pretty much in his sweet spot as a starting pitcher goes," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "I think it's important to him to build his confidence and let him become one of the premier starting pitchers in baseball.”
As Shields kept the opposing batters under pressure, the Rays’ batting squad created a thrust over the Rangers pitching depth. Evan Longoria started off with a 370-feet long pressure generating home-run in the first inning. Two innings later, Casey Kotchman
blistered a single to centre-field for an RBI run. Then catcher John Jaso took the lead to 4-0 hitting into double play, moving from first to shortstop and scoring Sean Rodriguez.
After a scoreless fifth and sixth, B.J. Upton recorded his 19th home-run of the season. He launched a 373-feet long homer to right-field.
Rangers’ starter Scott Feldman allowed four runs on four hits and walked four batters over his five innings to receive his first loss of the season. Merkin Valdez gave the fifth run on a home-run to B.J. Upton.
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