Kevin Tall
Stock photo

James Shields gave the Tampa Bay Rays eight shutout innings—nine without an earned run—Sunday afternoon, picking up his seventh win of the year in the 2-1 win over the Florida Marlins.

The win—Shields' fifth complete game of the season—gave the Rays their first home sweep of 2011; it also handed Tampa Bay the intrastate Citrus Series 4-2 over Florida (yawn).

Shields had only five CGs in 151 career starts headed into the 2011 season.

Shields gave up an unearned run in the first of his nine innings pitched, allowing four hits and no walks while striking out 10 men at the plate.

"How about Shields today? I mean, if that does not put him in the All-Star Game, I don't know what does," said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "Five complete games prior to the All-Star Break—that doesn't happen every year. It's the way he's done it too. He's just been dominating."

With Johnny Damon putting himself in the hall of fame conversation the night before with his 500th double, Shields tied a franchise record with five CGs; he currently leads the majors in that category less than halfway through the season.

“I did a lot of hard work in the offseason. I worked really, really hard on my delivery in spring training with [pitching coach Jim] Hickey and it's all coming together," said Shields. "It's nice to be able to throw CGs. It shows that the work is paying off. “

This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2011.