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Devil Rays end 11-game skid

Jul 7, 2007 - 5:39 AM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- The streak is over.

The Tampa Devil Rays snapped an 11-game losing streak, the longest in the majors leagues this season, riding the pitching of James Shields to a 6-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.

Shields (7-4), who was 0-4 in his past four starts after beginning the season 6-0, held the Royals to four runs on seven hits in 7 2/3 innings to pick up his first win since June 9. He struck out six and walked none

"The monkey is off our back," Shields said. "An 11-game losing streak is tough to swallow."

While the Devil Rays ended their losing skid, it did not come easy as the Royals rallied with four runs in the final two innings.

"We're hot," Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said with a laughed. "That the way things like that are supposed to end. It's never by 15 to 1. It always a game like that, where you have to take it right down to the nub and you win it and then you move on.

"A load is always lifted after you've lost 11 games and to say otherwise would be total denial. No one ever wants to go through that. I think our guys handled it extremely well."

John Buck belted a leadoff homer off Gary Glover in the ninth to pull the Royals within 6-5. It was Buck's 15th homer, which leads all American League catchers.

Former Devil Ray Joey Gathright then beat out an infield single but Glover came back to retire the next three batters for his first save.

"Even after I gave up the home run to Buck, which is kind of weird, because I thought CC (Crawford) had it in his glove, so I got excited," Glover said. "Then the crowd reacted again and I looked back, I was like, 'Oh no.' I was still calm. Once Gathright beat out that ball on the infield, I knew I was in a little bit of a battle. That's when it kind of set in. I had to clear my mind to stay focused out there.

"Things were kind of entering in my head, how things were going over the last week and a half. I didn't want to keep that thing going. A couple of times, I just stepped off the rubber to clear my head."

Glover fell behind in the count 3-1 to Tony Pena Jr. before getting him to fly out to Jonny Gomes.

"Luckily, it was a fly ball because had it been on the ground, Gathright was going and for sure he would have been on second base," Glover said. "That enters a whole new problem, where just a base hit would have scored him. Being able to keep him on first was a big thing."

Ending the long losing skid was even bigger.

"It definitely wasn't a cookie-cutter ninth inning, but after the third out a win is a win," said Gomes, who had two hits and scored a run. "It's good to come in here and see smiles on people's faces, get some pigment back in our skins. It is good to have it over, hope we can get some wins here and lick our wind during the All-Star break."

Shields improved to 2-0 against the Royals this season and is 3-0 in three career starts.

"We just can't get to him," Royals manager Buddy Bell said.

"In the end I got a little tired and gave up some hits, but Glover came in and did an outstanding job," Shields said. "When you're put in that situation with an 11-game losing streak, it is tough to pitch mentally. I give him credit."

Mark Teahen drove in Tony Pena Jr. with a sacrifice fly and Ross Gload doubled home Mark Grudzielanek, who was hit by a pitch, to chase Shields. Alex Gordon singled home Gload before Jay Witasick, the third Tampa Bay pitcher of the inning, struck out Billy Butler to end the threat.

The Devil Rays' offense featured 15 hits, as the first seven batters in the lineup had at least two apiece.

Delmon Young had three hits, including two doubles, and drove in two runs while Brendan Harris also had two hits and two RBI. Young leads American League rookies with 47 RBI.

Tampa Bay sent seven men to the plate in the first inning and scored two runs on four hits off Royals left-hander Odalis Perez.

Akinori Iwamura led off the game with a double on the first pitch and scored on Harris' single. Carlos Pena's two-out single scored Harris, bringing his RBI total to 50.

Perez (4-8) took the loss, giving up five runs on 10 hits and a walk in six innings. Perez is 2-6 in his past eight decisions.

"They are an aggressive young team and they were able to put the ball in play and scored some runs," Perez said. "I lost and I feel bad because I lost, but I don't think I threw the ball bad."

The Royals trimmed the lead to 2-1 in the second when Gathright doubled to left to plate Alex Gordon, who led off the inning with a single and moved to third on back-to-back wild pitches by Shields.

The Devil Rays scored single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Carl Crawford walked in the fifth, stole second (his 22nd steal), moved to third on catcher John Buck's throwing error and scored on Harris' single.

In the sixth, Jonny Gomes singled, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Raul Casanova's sacrifice fly. Young's double in the seventh scored Harris, upping the Tampa Bay lead to 6-1