Shields wins one at home
ST. PETERSBURG (AP) – James Shields won at home for the first time in more than three months, and eight straight Tampa Bay batters reached base to start a six-run third inning that helped the Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 11-4 Friday night.
Shields (10-11) had been 0-5 in his previous 10 starts at Tropicana Field since beating Kansas City 3-2 on June 4. He gave up four runs and nine hits in six innings.
Carl Crawford had an RBI triple and Gregg Zaun hit a run-scoring double in the third to help the Rays take a 6-2 lead.
Evan Longoria hit his 31st homer of the season and had three RBI for the AL champs, who won for just the third time in 16 games.
Scott Richmond (6-10) was pulled after allowing five consecutive hits to start the third.
Tampa Bay has won two in a row for the first time since beating the Blue Jays on Aug. 24-25.
Adam Lind hit an RBI single in the first and Vernon Wells drove in a run with a double during the third as the Blue Jays took a 2-0 lead. Toronto has lost 14 of its last 18 road games.
Lind has 104 RBI this season, including 30 over the last 29 games. Wells has an 11-game hitting streak, and moved past Tony Fernandez into second place on the Toronto career list with 292 doubles.
The right-hander, 0-5 in eight starts since returning from a biceps injury on July 31, allowed five runs and seven hits over two-plus innings.
Longoria, Willy Aybar and Gabe Gross each had an RBI single in the third. The Rays’ sixth run of the inning scored when B.J. Upton hit into a double play.
The Rays went up 8-2 in the fourth when Ben Zobrist and Zaun both hit run-scoring singles. Gross had a seventh-inning sacrifice fly.
Crawford tied his career high with his 59th stolen base when he took second in the eighth before scoring on Longoria’s two-run homer. Longoria has driven in 107 runs this season.