In search of a little redemption for their opening-night loss at the hands of the visiting Baltimore Orioles, the Tampa Bay Rays got more of the same Saturday. They were out-pitched for the second night in a row, this time at the hands of Chris Tillman, who had moved up a day in the rotation for the injured Brian Matusz.
Rays starting pitcher James Shields didn’t begin this one the way he’d have liked, we can assume, giving up a base hit to Brian Roberts on his first pitch of the evening. He followed that up by walking Nick Markakis and this one looked dicey quickly.
“The first inning, you kind of get the first-game jitters,” Shields said. “My mind was racing a little too quick and I was getting a little ahead of myself. After that first inning, I kind of settled in a little bit and got a nice little rhythm going."
Shields settled down indeed, striking out Vladimir Guerrero and Derrek Lee before getting Luke Scott to fly out to center.
After that slightly shaky start, it was three-up, three-down for five innings.
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2011.