Rays just one game back of Yankees

The Tampa Bay Rays were notably quiet as the trade deadline came and went this weekend. Despite being linked to the likes of Adam Dunn, the team decided to stand pat, only adding reliever Chad Qualls from Arizona.

But from the look of it, the Rays plan on making all their noise on the field.

Behind James Shields’ brilliant performance, Tampa Bay took the rubber game of a three-game series with the New York Yankees, 3-0. The win pulled the Rays to within one game of the AL East leaders and defending World Series champions.

Shields went seven innings, shutting out the league’s best offense and striking out 11 en route to his 10th win of the season.It was a necessary performance, as Tampa Bay could muster only three runs against C.C. Sabathia and the Yankees bullpen. The Rays got to Sabathia early, scoring three runs over the second and third innings, but found the going difficult from then on out.

Carl Crawford went 2 for 4 with an RBI for the Rays.

Qualls made his first appearance for his new team, pitching 2/3 of an inning of scoreless baseball, handing the game over to closer Rafael Soriano, who promptly shut the door for his 30th save of the season.

Sunday, August 1, 2010 at 5:01 pm by Raj Sethi

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