• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Davis hopes to twirl another gem for Rays vs. Royals

Aug 10, 2011 - 2:59 PM (Sports Network) - Wade Davis tries to duplicate James Shields' dominating effort from last night when he toes the rubber for the Tampa Bay Rays this evening in the third installment of a four-game set with the Kansas City Royals at Tropicana Field.

Shields tossed his major league-leading eighth complete game of the season on Tuesday, as he threw a six-hit shutout in the Rays' 4-0 win. Evan Longoria homered and drove in all four runs for Tampa, which has won the first two games of this series and five of its last seven overall.

The game lasted just 1 hour and 53 minutes, setting the Tampa Bay record for the shortest nine-inning game.

"We really feed off our defense and there were so many good moments tonight," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "As a starting pitcher, you have to be jacked up about all the stuff our defense did tonight."

Longoria now has 12 RBI over his last 12 games, but is hitting a mere .188 in that time. Of his nine hits in that span, four have left the ballpark.

Jeff Francis (4-12) allowed four runs on five hits over seven innings for the Royals, who have lost four of five. He struck out four and walked zero.

Royals leadoff man Alex Gordon, 2-for-20 over his last five games, went hitless in four at-bats and is now a miserable 1-for-45 in 13 career games at Tropicana Field.

Hoping to add to his misery tonight will be Davis, who is 8-7 with a 4.55 ERA. Davis did not get a decision his last time out, as he allowed three runs and five hits in 7 2/3 innings of his team's 7-6 win.

Davis lost to the Royals the last time he faced them and is 1-1 with a 3.26 ERA in three starts against them.

Kansas City, meanwhile, will counter with righty Felipe Paulino, who is 1-4 with a 3.56 ERA since joining the Royals. Paulino gave up three runs and six hits to Detroit on Friday, but did not factor in the decision of his team's 4-3 loss.

Paulino, who started the season with Colorado, lost his only other start to the Rays back on July 24.

Kansas City took two of three from the Rays earlier in the year.