Rays beat Angels on walkoff wild pitch, 2-1
Tampa Bay's James Shields may be the hottest pitcher in baseball. But for a time Saturday, he also seemed to be the unluckiest as well.
After coming within three outs of a third consecutive complete game and second straight shutout, Shields had to watch from the dugout as the Angels rallied to send the game into extra innings before the Rays staged a rally of their own to win, 2-1, on Fernando Rodney's two-out, two-strike wild pitch in the 10th.
Matt Joyce, whose home run leading off the fifth gave Tampa Bay its first run, started the 10th with an opposite-field double to left, then moved to third on a groundout. With Felipe Lopez at the plate, Rodney bounced a two-strike pitch that skipped off catcher Hank Conger and bounced toward the Tampa Bay dugout as Joyce raced home without a throw.
Shields, who set down the first 13 Angels in order, had allowed just five singles through eight innings and was in trouble just once, when the Angels loaded the bases on three consecutive one-out singles in the fifth. But the right-hander, who matched a career high with 12 strikeouts, escaped the jam when he struck out Peter Bourjos and Alexi Amarista.
