Chicago @ Tampa Bay preview
Tropicana Field
Last Meeting ( May 29, 2010 ) Chi. White Sox 5, Tampa Bay 8
Carlos Pena, B.J. Upton and the Tampa Bay Rays finally snapped out of their doldrums.
Starter James Shields would like to see more fireworks from his team’s hitters today when the Rays close out a four-game series with the Chicago White Sox.
Pena, who entered Saturday hitting just .181, broke out of a 3-for-27 slump with three RBIs in an 8-5 win. And Pena’s teammates followed his lead.
Evan Longoria had an RBI double and Upton homered as the major league-leading Rays nearly matched their entire offensive output from the previous five games.
Tampa Bay scored just 11 runs in dropping four of the first five games on its seven-game homestand.
The most encouraging sign that things may be starting to run around is Saturday’s production from Pena and Upton.
Pena had been hitting just .121 in May and .223 with runners in scoring position and two outs before drilling a bases-clearing double with two out in the fourth inning.
Upton, meanwhile, belted a 416-foot homer in his second game back. The sixth-year center fielder was hitting just .146 in his past 23 games when manager Joe Maddon decided to give him Wednesday and Thursday off as a “mental” break.
Shields (5-2, 2.99 ERA) hopes the Rays can keep up their hot hitting, especially after taking a loss in one of his best outings of the season.
The right-hander yielded just two runs and four hits in eight innings of a 2-0 setback to Boston Tuesday. He is just 2-2 in his last five starts despite a 2.65 ERA and a better than 9-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in that span.
Shields allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings of a 10-2 win over Chicago on April 22. The 28-year-old is 2-1 with a 4.17 ERA in six starts vs. the White Sox.
He may get plenty of run support considering the Rays face a suddenly struggling Jake Peavy (3-4, 6.05). Peavy is 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in his last two outings. The sinkerballer has been consistent if nothing else, having allowed six runs and eight hits in six innings both starts.
He faced Shields the last time the teams met and was roughed up for seven runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. Peavy is 1-1 with a 5.56 ERA in two starts vs. Tampa Bay.
The White Sox have lost four of the last six meetings. But Chicago can take something positive out of its most recent loss: Carlos Quentin homered for the first time in 19 games.
Quentin, who had two hits to raise his average to .215, has six homers and 13 RBIs in 24 games against the Rays.