James Shields, one of the brightest spots in Tampa Bay’s rotation this year, succumbed to a lackluster outing versus the Chicago White Sox, one marked by an uncharacteristically high pitch count that negated the hitting clinic that the Rays’ shuffled order put on in Tropicana Field.
The 28-year old entered Sunday’s home tilt on the heels of a seven-game quality-start streak, and had posted just 33 full counts in 10 outings throughout the season. Versus Chicago, though, Shields ran the count to 3-2 on five separate occasions and finished with a pitch count of 108 in 5.1 innings, which tied for his shortest outing of the season. The 20-plus pitches per inning that he hurled in the afternoon slate against the White Sox was well below his season average of 15.4 pitches per frame entering this game.
Before the game, Rays manager Joe Maddon seemed confident in his pitching staff's ability to control the tempo and continue the success that Tampa Bay had that gave them the best record in the majors. He even went as far to say that, should the Rays score five runs -- which they did in the 8-5 loss -- he would take that with Tampa Bay's pitching. Not so on Sunday.
Even with Shields' bloated pitch count, the White Sox found success by attacking Shields' fastball early in at bats, plating two runs in the opening frame. Ultimately, though, a 29-pitch sixth inning, which included Jayson Nix's game-winning grand slam, spelled doom for the Tampa Bay starter, who allowed a season-high seven earned runs, a season-worst 11 hits and struck out a season-low three batters as the he fell to 1-2 at home.
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