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Rays-Athletics Preview

May 9, 2010 - 12:56 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Tampa Bay (22-7) at Oakland (15-15), 4:05 p.m. EDT

Given the top-to-bottom strength of the Tampa Bay Rays' rotation, it's not surprising that the majors' best team has lost consecutive games twice all season.

James Shields figures to give Tampa Bay a good chance of avoiding its first back-to-back road defeats, as the red-hot right-hander looks to win a career-best fifth straight start Sunday against the Oakland Athletics.

Tampa Bay's deep group of young starters, who lead the majors with a 2.48 ERA, are perhaps the biggest reason the Rays (22-8) have avoided any significant losing streaks during the best 30-game start in franchise history.

At 28, Shields (4-0, 3.15 ERA) is the oldest member of the rotation, and he has anchored the staff by winning four consecutive outings for the first time since June 5-21, 2006 when he was a rookie. He's never won five in a row.

In his last two starts, Shields has totaled 22 strikeouts and one walk in 15 innings, and matched a career high with 12 strikeouts in seven innings of a 10-3 win over Oakland on April 28.

He pitched eight-plus innings in a 5-2 win at Seattle on Tuesday to begin this road trip.

"He was throwing all pitches for strikes in all counts," Mariners shortstop Jack Wilson told the Rays' official website. "Same old, same old. He's one of the best pitchers in the American League, and he just went out and hit his spots and kept throwing strikes."

Since losing his first career start against Oakland, Shields is 4-0 with a 2.90 ERA in his last eight starts against the A's.

He'll hope to help the Rays rebound from their second loss in 15 road games this season. Tampa Bay had won five straight overall and was off to the best road start since the 1984 Detroit Tigers before losing 4-2 on Saturday.

"We just couldn't get it done today," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "It's not going to happen every night. I liked the effort, that's what I'm really locked into. I'm not at all concerned. We'll get our hits."

Tampa Bay still ranks second in the majors with 174 runs, but the A's (16-15) held the Rays to five hits on Saturday, and beat them for the first time in four meetings this year.

Dallas Braden (3-2, 4.14) will hope for a similar result, but the Oakland left-hander has lost his last two starts after going 3-0 in his first four. His worst outing of the season came against Shields and Tampa Bay last month, when he allowed six runs in four-plus innings.

"Someone apparently didn't tell the Rays that (batting practice) was over when they took the cage off the field," Braden said. "They just kept hacking."

While his outing Monday against Texas was an improvement, he gave up a season-high 11 hits along with three runs in seven innings of a 4-2 loss.

The Rays need a win in the decisive game of the series Sunday to ensure they'll remain ahead of the surging Yankees in the AL East. Tampa Bay holds a half-game lead over New York, which has won six straight.