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Shields, offense lift Rays over Orioles

Aug 31, 2008 - 10:54 PM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Jason Bartlett had four hits, including his first home run of the season, Rocco Baldelli added three hits and James Shields continued his home dominance as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 10-4, Sunday.

The Rays (84-51) completed a three-game sweep of the Orioles and opened a 5 1/2 game lead over the Boston Red Sox (79-57) atop the American League East. The 5 1/2 game lead matches their biggest of the season.

Shields (12-8), who lost his last home start on Tuesday, improved to 9-2 at home for the Rays, who won for the 29th time in 41 games since the All-Star break and reached double-digit runs for the third straight game.

"We're capable of doing that all the time and that definitely gives the starters a chance to relax," Shields said.

Shields has thrown six or more frames in eight of his last nine outings and this one was no different. The righthander held the lowly Orioles to one run and six hits, but recorded a season-low one strikeout.

"We can just go out there and do our thing and execute pitches," Shields said.

Bartlett went 4-for-4, including his first home run since August 27, 2007. He had two RBI and scored three runs.

"We don't have one superstar that stands out," Bartlett said. "We're a team. We all work together. Every win we grow even more. Every day it gets closer to October."

Baldelli, who had the walk-off ninth inning double in Saturday's 10-9 win, went 3-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI.

"He's been swinging the bat well," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "He's getting more comfortable, more confident and he can get really hot when he gets on a hot streak."

Brian Burres (7-9) allowed nine hits and seven runs in five innings, walking four and striking out four. The Orioles are now 0-10 against the Rays in games he has appeared in.

"They do a good job with making you make a pitch," Burres said. "Sometimes it's hard to just get yourself back down there and get yourself back in the game and make better pitches."

The Rays scored in each of the first three innings to take a 5-0 lead. Tampa Bay put the contest away with three runs in the sixth and two in the seventh.

"Give Tampa Bay credit, they're not in first place for nothing," Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said. "They have good pitching, they catch the ball in the infield and every opportunity they get, they take advantage of them."

Luke Scott had a two-run double in the eighth for the Orioles, who lost for the 10th time in their last 12 games and fell 10 games below .500 and 21 1/2 games behind the Rays.

"There's not excuse but that's the difficult situation, is to stay strong," Kevin Millar said. "You can't feel sorry for yourself, you can't feel sorry for each other. You've got to get together."