Right-hander James Shields has every right to be frustrated.
The Tampa Bay ace has made just a few mistakes this season, but, indicative of the way the Rays aren't getting the breaks they did last year, he hasn't had much to show for it. Worse, his pattern of being worse on the road than at home is further out of skew even though he has pitched well on this trip.
On Thursday in Seattle, Shields allowed only a leadoff home run to Ichiro Suzuki and lost.
On Tuesday in Minneapolis, the Rays had just rallied to tie the game at 2-2 in the sixth, and Shields hit Brian Buscher with the bases loaded, and the Rays ended up losing.
TWINS 4, RAYS 3: 2B Akinori Iwamura couldn't make a clean play on Justin Morneau's bases-loaded groundball in the bottom of the ninth, allowing the winning run to score. Ben Zobrist tied the game in the top of the ninth with a pinch home run off Joe Nathan.
