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Shields sharp as Rays levels baseball World Series
2008-10-24
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AFP) - Righthander James Shields struck out four and the Tampa Bay Rays scored two runs in the opening inning then held on to beat Philadelphia 4-2 Thursday in game two of the World Series. BJ Upton had two hits, batted in one run and scored a run for the Rays, who levelled Major League Baseball's best-of-seven championship series at one game apiece. "We just got a couple runners on early and took advantage," Upton said. "I got a couple of big hits. "Defence is big part of our game we take pride in it. We are happy get a win." The Rays racked up their runs by playing "small ball" to perfection as four players batted in runs in front of a sold-out crowd of 40,783 at Tropicana Field. Their first two runs came off run-scoring ground outs to shortstop in the first and they tagged on two more runs in the second and fourth innings. "I can't tell you how happy I was to see that," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "Ground ball, ground ball, bunt, three points right there. That's beautiful. "You are not always going to hit home runs. When you are facing better pitching, when you get an opportunity you better take advantage of it." The series shifts to Philadelphia for the next three games, including game three on Saturday. Tampa Bay starter Shields failed to pitch the Rays into the World Series in game six of the American League Championship Series but he redeemed himself in a huge way in game two of the Series. Shields pitched into the sixth inning and didn't allow a run, getting help from a superb defence. Shields, 1-2 in the playoffs, allowed seven hits and walked two batters. "My stuff was good and my change-up was exceptional tonight," Shields said. "I am known as a strike thrower and most teams don't really take too many pitches on me." Rookie lefthander David Price got Phillies slugger Ryan Howard to ground out to first for the final out of the game. "I was nervous," said the 23-year-old Price. "I usually don't sweat but my hat looks like I went swimming in it." Howard led the majors in home runs (48) and RBIs (146) but Price wasn't intimidated. "He's human, just like everybody else," Price said. "He doesn't have any super powers." Tampa Bay is trying to cap one of the most impressive turnarounds in American sports history. The Rays are the first team since Atlanta in 1991 to reach the World Series one year after posting the worst record in Major League Baseball. They have now won 22 of their past 25 games. That's a far cry from last season when they lost 96 games and in 2006 when lost 101. Tampa Bay looked solid early, scoring two runs in the first inning. Phillies starter Brett Myers walked leadoff batter Akinori Iwamura of Japan. Two batters later, Carlos Pena grounded out to shortstop, scoring Iwamura. The Rays made it 2-0 on a similar play in the same inning as rookie Evan Longoria grounded out to score Upton. Howard broke out of his slump with a leadoff double in the second but once again Philadelphia couldn't bring runs home, stranding runners at third and second. Philadelphia stranded 13 runners in Wednesday's opener and they fired blanks again in game two. They went one-for-15 with runners in scoring position in game two but still managed to get a split on the road before heading home for the next three games. "We didn't play good and it might be one of the sloppiest games we played all year," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "I am concerned about the way our guys are hitting with players on base but we can fix that. "We didn't execute. We get to go home and that will help us." The Rays added another run in the second as Upton hit a RBI single to right field, scoring Dionner Navarro to make it 3-0. Rightfielder Rocco Baldelli tried to follow Navarro home on the play but was thrown out at the plate by outfielder Jayson Werth. The Phillies thought Baldelli should have been called out on strikes but first base umpire Fieldin Culbreth overrulled plate umpire Kerwin Danley, allowing Baldelli to walk. Upton rebounded from an 0-for-4 night on Wednesday with two hits against the Phillies in game two. Jason Bartlett hit a sacrifice bunt up the first base line to score Cliff Floyd and give Tampa Bay a 4-0 lead in the fourth. Eric Bruntlett blasted a solo home run to left field off Price in the eighth inning to cut Tampa's lead to three. Werth hit a hard grounder in the ninth off the shoulder of Tampa third baseman Longoria to plate Carlos Ruiz and round out the scoring.
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