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Rays hope Shields can shut down Texas at the Trop

Sep 5, 2011 - 2:59 PM (Sports Network) - James Shields targets his third straight win this afternoon when the Tampa Bay Rays open a three-game series with the Texas Rangers at Tropicana Field.

Shields was terrific in beating the Rangers his last time out, as he held them to four hits over eight scoreless innings to run his record to 13-10 on the year to go along with a 2.84 earned run average. He retired 22 of the final 24 batters he faced in that one, but manager Joe Maddon opted to pull him after 110 pitches, rather than let him go for his 11th complete game of the year.

"That was pretty much the limit under the circumstances," Maddon said. "His last game was 125. [It was] a little bit warm out there tonight. He pitched a great game once again, so it was pretty much the right thing to do at that moment."

Shields, who also notched the 1,000th strikeout of his career in the win versus Texas, has faced the Rangers seven times and is 4-2 against them with a 3.42 ERA.

The Rays enter tonight's tilt riding a two-game winning streak after Reid Brignac drove in three runs to back Jeremy Hellickson's second career complete game, as Tampa Bay dominated the Baltimore Orioles, 8-1, in the rubber match of a three-game series.

The 24-year-old Hellickson (12-10) gave up one run on four hits. The right- hander only struck out one batter, but got 16 groundouts.

"I knew they were swinging early," Hellickson said. "I didn't know my pitch count was that low. I just kept attacking the zone and they kept putting it in play."

Matt Joyce hit a solo homer and drove in two runs for the Rays, whose win streak comes on the heels of a two-game skid. Sean Rodriguez added a two-run homer.

Texas, meanwhile, used an offensive onslaught to take two of three from the Boston Red Sox over the weekend. The Rangers scored 28 runs and homered six times among 12 extra-base hits in the three-game set in Boston.

On Sunday, Ian Kinsler finished 3-for-5 with a solo home run and three RBI as Texas used a sixth-inning burst to subdue Boston, 11-4.

Josh Hamilton contributed a three-run triple during that decisive seven-run frame for the Rangers, who have won five of seven overall and hold a 3 1/2- game edge on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for first place in the American League West.

"It just means we took 2-out-of-3. I'm not putting any more credence to it than we won the series," said Rangers manager Ron Washington when asked if it was a harbinger of success to come. "We did a good job of pitching in the two games we won. All three games we swung the bats, put some runs on the board, just [Saturday] they put more than we did. But it's about pitching, and we came in for two games and pitched pretty good."

Mike Napoli homered among his two hits, scored twice and drove in two runs, while David Murphy and Mitch Moreland contributed two hits and an RBI each.

Matt Harrison (11-9) yielded two runs on seven hits in seven innings for the win.

Getting the call for the Rangers this afternoon will be righty Scott Feldman, who won his first start of the year on Tuesday against Tampa. Feldman held the Rays to just two hits over six scoreless innings, as he improved to 1-0 on the year with a 2.86 ERA.

Feldman is an impressive 4-1 lifetime against the Rays with a 1.41 ERA in nine games (four starts).

Texas is 4-2 against the Rays this season.