• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Shields, Rays take on Blue Jays in opener of three-game series

Jul 28, 2008 - 1:31 PM Tampa Bay (61-43) at Toronto (53-52), 7:07 pm EDT

TORONTO (Ticker) -- The baseball world has claimed the American League East Division race belongs to the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Yet, the Tampa Bay Rays are still atop the standings.

James Shields and the Rays will try to keep pace with their surging division rivals as they take on the Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of a three-game set on Monday.

Shields (9-6, 3.66 ERA) will take the mound for Tampa Bay in a rematch of last Monday's game against Toronto's A.J. Burnett (11-9, 4.73).

Each starter went seven innings and threw well, but Shields was the beneficiary of the Rays' late rally in the 2-1 victory.

Shields has held opponents to three runs or less in seven of his last 10 starts and has won five of his last six starts.

Burnett's only loss since July 4 came against Shields and the Rays and has given up two runs or less in five of his last seven outings.

Carl Crawford is mired in a terrible slump, hitting .214 over his last 24 games. Teammate Carlos Pena is 2-for-16 (.125) with eight strikeouts lifetime against Burnett, and he's hit .114 (4-for-35) with 21 strikeouts against Toronto this season.

The Rays are coming off a series split against the Kansas City Royals in which they took the middle games of a four-game set. Andy Sonnanstine threw 6 2/3 innings, but allowed five runs and eight hits to the Royals on Sunday.

Shaun Marcum tossed his second ineffective start on Sunday for the Blue Jays since coming off the disabled list. The righthander coughed up four runs and six hits in 5 2/3 frames and dropped a 5-1 bout to the Seattle Mariners, which snapped a five-game winning streak.