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Injury-riddled Rays look to take rubber match against Athletics

Aug 14, 2008 - 10:03 AM Tampa Bay (71-47) at Oakland (55-63) 3:35 p.m. EDT

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Rays have lost two of their most productive offensive stars, but it hasn't blinded their sights on the American League East crown.

The first-place Rays, who are without Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria, take on the Oakland Athletics on Thursday.

Crawford will have surgery on Thursday to repair the subluxation of his right middle finger tendon. The two-time All-Star is expected to miss six to eight weeks, making a return in the final week of the regular season a possibility barring any setbacks.

Longoria, an All-Star and frontrunner for the AL Rookie of the Year Award, went on the shelf Monday after suffering a right wrist fracture over the weekend.

Tampa Bay stands three games ahead of the Boston Red Sox (70-51) in the AL East.

James Shields (10-7, 3.65 ERA) takes the mound for the Rays with hopes of winning his seventh decision in the past nine. The 26-year-old righthander has held opponents under four runs in nine of his past 10 starts and has pitched at least six innings in all of them.

He is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in two starts against Oakland.

Sean Gallagher (4-5, 4.39) counters for the Athletics and hopes to win for the first time since July 11 - his debut with the team after being traded from the Chicago Cubs in the deal that sent Rich Harden packing to the National League.

The 22-year-old is 1-1 with a 4.26 ERA in five starts in the AL and has 27 strikeouts, but 19 walks in that span.

Ben Zobrist's RBI double in the seventh inning snapped a tie score and helped the Rays claim a 3-2 triumph on Wednesday.

Carlos Pena and Eric Hinske both launched solo home runs off Oakland ace Justin Duchscherer, who allowed three runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings en route to his third straight loss.

On Tuesday, Bobby Crosby homered and rookie Gio Gonzalez pitched five strong innings as the Athletics escaped with a 2-1 victory.