ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — All-Star James Shields came within one out of his 12th complete game and Kelly Shoppach homered to help the Tampa Bay Rays keep the pressure on Boston in the AL wild-card race with a 5-2 victory over the New York Yankees on Monday night.
The Rays began the night trailing the reeling Red Sox by one game with three left in the regular season. Boston was at Baltimore.
B.J. Upton drove in two runs with a third-inning double off Hector Noesi. Shoppach homered for the second straight day for the Rays, who’ve won three straight and are 15-8 since Sept. 2, when they trailed the Red Sox by nine games. Johnny Damon’s third-inning RBI single moved him into a tie with Lou Gehrig for 57th on the career hits list with 2,721.
