BALTIMORE — James Shields pitched three-hit ball into the eighth inning, Brandon Guyer homered in his first big league at-bat, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-2 on Friday night.
Johnny Damon also connected for the Rays, who are 17-6 since a 1-8 start that included three straight losses to Baltimore to open the season.
Shields (3-1) gave up one run, struck out five and walked three while improving to 3-0 with a 1.12 ERA in his last five starts. The most glaring flaw in his performance was a homer by Derrek Lee in the sixth.
In his previous three games against the Orioles, Shields was 0-3 with a 6.48 ERA.
Guyer became the only player in Rays history to homer during his first plate appearance in his major league debut.