Shields, Rays keep on rolling
Tampa Bay Rays starter James Shields pitches against the Cleveland Indians in the first inning of a baseball game in Cleveland. (May 12, 2011) Credit: AP
James Shields pitched seven strong innings to finally beat Cleveland, and the Tampa Bay Rays did some more road repair to their record with a 7-4 win yesterday over Justin Masterson and the Indians.
Tampa Bay has won 10 of 11 on the road and owns the majors' best mark away from home at 13-5. The Rays are 21-7 overall following a 1-8 start.
"By now it's been forgotten," Shields said of the club's horrendous April opening. "We're playing on all cylinders right now."
Cleveland lost for just the second time in 16 home games.
Shields (4-1) gave up two runs and scattered seven hits. The righthander came in 0-4 in six career starts against Cleveland, the only AL team he had never beaten. He improved to 4-0 with 1.12 ERA in his last five starts overall.
"I beat Cleveland, at Cleveland," he said, smiling. "I got one more on my bucket list."
Reid Brignac, Sam Fuld and Evan Longoria had two RBIs apiece as the Rays handed Masterson (5-1) his first loss.
Cleveland outfielder Grady Sizemore missed his second straight game with a bruised right knee. An MRI exam showed no structural damage, a huge relief to the Indians and Sizemore, who sat out most of 2010 after undergoing microfracture surgery on his other knee.
Cardinals 9, Cubs 1: Unbeaten Jaime Garcia pitched seven effective innings and Matt Holliday homered to start an early burst for visiting St. Louis.
Garcia (5-0), who carried a perfect game into the eighth in his previous start against Milwaukee, allowed one run and nine hits. He complemented his 84-pitch outing on an 84-degree day at Wrigley Field by hitting an RBI single.
St. Louis finished with 16 hits and took two of three in the series without manager Tony La Russa, who is back in St. Louis recovering from shingles.
Giants 3, Diamondbacks 2: Matt Cain (3-2) had his best outing in nearly a month, and Nate Schierholtz added three hits to help San Francisco complete a perfect homestand.
Eli Whiteside doubled twice to help the Giants go 6-0 at home. They swept Colorado and then Arizona to extend their season-high winning streak to six games.
Cain (3-2) scattered seven hits over 72/3 innings in his first win since April 15.
-- AP
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