Rays Shut Down Marlins 4-0 At Sun Life Stadium
MIAMI (CBS4) – Tampa Rays' James Shields pitched a three-hitter with a career-high 13 strikeouts to help his team beat the Florida Marlins 4-0 Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.
Shields (5-2) walked just one in his second shutout and third complete game of the season. He didn't allow a baserunner past first base until the ninth inning and had nine strikeouts in the last four innings. The right-hander gave up singles in the second, seventh and eighth innings, and a ninth-inning walk.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Rays, who haven't been swept by their intrastate rivals since 2007.
Florida's Jay Buente (0-1), called up when ace Josh Johnson was put on the disabled list, lasted three innings and gave up four runs — three earned — in his first career start. Buente allowed five hits and walked three.
Tampa Bay improved its road record to 15-8, best in baseball.
Shields went past the seventh inning for the ninth time in 10 starts this season. It was the eighth time he went at least seven innings while allowing two runs or less. Both marks are tops in the majors.
In his only start against Florida in 2010, Shields matched a career high by allowing 10 runs in only 3 1-3 innings of 14-9 loss at Tampa Bay.
First baseman Casey Kotchman had two hits, including an RBI triple for Tampa Bay. Three-time All-Star third baseman Evan Longoria, mired in a 1-for-18 slump, also had two hits.
Gaby Sanchez had two of Florida's three hits, a sharp grounder up the middle in the second and a blooper in the seventh.
The Rays scored two runs off Buente, who made eight relief appearances for Florida in 2010, in both the second and third innings.
Buente looked as if he might get out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the second when he got Shields to hit a grounder to third. But Greg Dobbs booted the potential double-play ball to allow one run to score and Elliot Johnson followed with a fielder's choice to make it 2-0.
Longoria had an RBI double and Kotchman a run-scoring triple in the third.
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