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The Tampa Bay Rays inched closer to the top of the AL East standings with a dramatic 5-4, extra-inning walk-off win against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Rays victory coupled with the Orioles’ loss earlier means Tampa Bay is just a game back in the division after Wednesday’s games.

This was the Rays’ fourth walk-off win of the season, which is the most among AL teams. B.J. Upton delivered the game-winning hit with an RBI double in the bottom of the 11th inning.

It was his fifth career walk-off hit, and four of those have now come against the Blue Jays. The only other Rays player with a walk-off double in the 11th inning or later was Greg Vaughn against the A’s in 2002.

James Shields held Toronto to three runs in seven innings while striking out 10 batters for his second 10-strikeout game this season.

He was effective getting the Blue Jays to chase his pitches, recording 26 swings on 50 pitches out of the strike zone (52 percent), his highest chase rate since 2009.

All 10 of his strikeouts were swinging, and nine came in at-bats ending in a changeup, his most with that pitch over the last four seasons. The Blue Jays went 1-for-13 in at-bats ending in Shields’ changeup and missed on more than half of their swings at the pitch.

The Blue Jays probably wish they didn’t have to play the Rays 10 more times this season. Toronto is now 2-6 versus Tampa Bay and 22-15 versus all other teams this season.

Elsewhere Around The Majors
•  The offensive struggles continued for both the Oakland A’s and Pittsburgh Pirates this season. The two teams have been held to one run or fewer in 14 games, the most among all teams.

The last time the A’s had 14 games of one run or fewer in their first 45 games was 1979 (18), and the last time the Pirates had 14 games of one run or fewer in their first 44 games was 1918 (14).

• Jonathon Niese helped the New York Mets beat the Pirates, 3-1, allowing one run in 7⅔ innings. Niese threw 29 pitches on the inner-third of the plate, netting 11 outs and allowing just one hit in at-bats ending with a pitch in that location.

• Alex Liddi hit his first career grand slam in the Seattle Mariners’ 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers. It was the first grand slam at home by a Mariners player since July 2010. Liddi is the second Italian-born player to hit a grand slam, joining Reno Bertoia, who had one in 1958.

• The Milwaukee Brewers scored six runs in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants and held on for an 8-5 win. The six runs are the most in the first inning for any NL team this season and the most first-inning runs for the Brewers since a 10-run frame on April 18, 2010.

Josh Hamilton became the 16th player in major-league history to hit four home runs in a game as the Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles 10-3.

The first quarter of the 2012 MLB season has been a good one for historians, with Hamilton’s four-homer game and Philip Humber’s perfect game. This is the first year in MLB history when there has been a perfect game and four-homer game in the season.

Hamilton became the first American League player to go 5-for-5 with four home runs. His 18 total bases are an AL record, surpassing the previous mark of 16 that was done eight times. He fell one base short of Shawn Green’s major-league record of 19 during his four-homer game in 2002.

Hamilton and Matt Kemp each have at least 12 home runs within their team’s first 30 games. It is the first time since 2006 that at least two players did that in the same season. In the 13 seasons from 1994 to 2006, it happened in nine seasons. Prior to that, it hadn’t happened since 1971, when Hank Aaron and Willie Stargell both pulled it off.

With 14 home runs in the Rangers' first 30 games, Hamilton broke the franchise record for homers at this point in the season. Frank Howard hit 12 home runs in the first 30 games in 1968, when the franchise was still the Washington Senators. Since the franchise moved to Texas in 1972, no other player had hit more than 11 homers in the team’s first 30 games.

Hamilton is already more than halfway to his total of 25 home runs from last season. His third-inning home run was his first of the season to the opposite field. He had 13 opposite-field home runs over the previous three seasons.

All four of Hamilton’s homers came with Elvis Andrus on base, netting a total of eight RBI for the game. That is tied for the third-most RBI in a four-homer game, trailing Mark Whiten’s 12 in 1993 and Gil Hodges’ nine in 1950.

It is often said that baseball's glamor position is centerfield, and the best hitters bat third in the order. During the live-ball era (since 1920), only two players have been 4-for-4 or better with three homers and four extra-base hits while playing center and batting third. Hamilton joins Ty Cobb, who went 6-for-6 with three home runs and a double on May 5, 1925.

Around the diamond
• Before he left the game with left hamstring tightness, Will Middlebrooks became the second player since 1900 with an extra-base hit in each of his first five career games. Elias reports that Enos Slaughter also had a five-game streak to start his career in 1938.

• Andrew McCutchen hit his first home run of the season in his 95th at-bat. Last season he had five home runs at the same point in the season.

• Curtis Granderson has reached base in 28 consecutive games, the longest streak in the majors this season. He extended the streak today against James Shields. Granderson entered the game 3-for-46 against Shields; according to Elias, that .065 average was the lowest career mark in any batter-pitcher matchup between active players (minimum 35 at-bats).

Justin Verlander found himself in a familiar position after the eighth inning with a two-run lead on Monday night against the Kansas City Royals.

Unlike his two previous starts when he and the Detroit Tigers bullpen blew leads in the ninth inning, Verlander went the distance this time and made sure he got his first win of the season. Verlander threw 131 pitches, one shy of his career high, and now has an MLB-best 33 120-pitch games since 2010.

Verlander this season has allowed one earned run in the first eight innings of his three starts, and five earned runs in the ninth inning. Prior to this year, he had allowed just one earned run in the ninth inning in his first seven seasons combined.

Verlander cranked up the heat in the final frame, averaging 97.5 mph with his fastball. He threw four heaters to Alex Gordon in the last at-bat, and each one hit 100 on the radar gun. Those were the four fastest pitches he threw the entire game.

Since 2009, Justin Verlander has the highest average fastball velocity for any starter in the ninth inning. He is the only starter in that time frame to throw a pitch over 100 mph in the ninth inning.

Verlander also had success getting ahead and finishing off the Royals batters. He allowed just one hit in 17 at-bats that reached a two-strike count, and this season opponents are now hitting .073 (3-41) with two strikes against Verlander.

Big Game shuts out Red Sox
James “Big Game” Shields lived up to his nickname on Patriots Day in Boston, tossing 8⅓ scoreless innings as the Tampa Bay Rays avoided the sweep against the Boston Red Sox with a 1-0 win this afternoon.

Shields allowed just four hits – all singles – as he shut down a Red Sox offense that had averaged more than 10 runs per game in the first three games of the series. This was just the third 1-0 shutout by the Rays over the Red Sox and all three have come at Fenway Park.

Shields heavily featured his slider against Boston, throwing it 41 times, and using it to get 10 outs. Both of those are his most in any start over the last three seasons. He had thrown just 28 sliders in his first two outings this season and recorded only five outs in nine at-bats with the pitch.

Around the Diamond
• The Minnesota Twins beat the New York Yankees for just the sixth time in 34 regular-season games in the Bronx since Ron Gardenhire’s first season as Twins manager in 2002. Justin Morneau homered and now has five home runs in 11 career games at the new Yankee Stadium. He has five homers in 80 games at Target Field.

• Dillon Gee pitched seven innings of one-run ball as the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 6-1. Gee recorded 11 groundball outs, one shy of his career-best, and induced grounders on 65 percent of balls hit into play, the highest groundball rate in a game in his career.

Shortly after the team’s loss to the Texas Rangers in the American League Division Series -- which saw only 28,299 fans show -- Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg launched into the troubling financial situation of his franchise:

"The rubber has got to hit the road at some point. We're four years into winning. We're getting to the point where we don't control our own destiny. This is untenable as a model…When I came in here in '05 and '06, I saw the stars, and I was confident that we could put a winning product on the field -- and I was told by you guys and others that all we needed was a winning team. Well, we won. We won. We won. And we won. And it didn't do it."

Sternberg acquired control of the franchise in 2005. Since that point, the Rays have arguably developed into the model organization in the sport, allowing them to compete year after year over the last four years despite a limited payroll.

The team’s success has not translated to sufficient attendance. One would have expected at least a noticeable uptick in attendance with the team routinely winning 30 more games per season than it used to, but that has simply not been the case.

It appears the preseason warnings of a down season and the huge departures via free agency may have kept the fans away.

The Rays have two AL East titles, a World Series appearance and three postseason appearances in four seasons, but have averaged exactly 1,748 more fans per game than they did in 2007, when they lost 96 games.

Unfortunately, the lack of attendance has a direct effect on the Rays’ ability to spend money. After attendance issues last year both in the regular season and postseason, the Rays slashed payroll by around $30 million.

While at first glance it might appear as though the Rays’ 2011 spending situation is actually a non-trivial improvement over the spending from 2005-07, it is actually just a case of context. The team ranked 29th in 2011 and ranked 30th, 29th, 30th, 29th from 2005-08. Payrolls across baseball have risen since 2005 as a whole, so in reality the Rays are still spending at the same fractional amount of competitors. For example, in 2005 the Rays payroll accounted for 24 percent of the Boston Red Sox payroll. In 2011, the Rays payroll increased 38 percent over its 2005 payroll -- was barely more than 25 percent of the Red Sox 2011 payroll, essentially no difference from 2005.

Over the years the team has lost Carl Crawford, Matt Garza, Carlos Pena, Joaquin Benoit, Scott Kazmir, Rafael Soriano, either due to unmatchable free agent offers or trades made necessary by salary obligations. It’s entirely possible that the team could once again leak talent this offseason, with James Shields getting more expensive and B.J. Upton due a raise from the nearly $5 million he made in 2011 in the arbitration process.

An organization can only churn out Matt Moores and Jeremy Hellicksons and Desmond Jennings for so long in an effort to paper over holes created from departures. At some point, perhaps the Rays can find themselves a better situation, allowing their on-field success to overshadow their off-field issues.

What seemed so unlikely just a few weeks ago has now become a reality –- the Tampa Bay Rays have tied the Boston Red Sox for the AL Wild Card lead with just two games remaining in the regular season.

The Rays have risen to the top of the Wild Card standings for the first time since May 23, when they had a half-game lead over the Red Sox (and were tied for first with the New York Yankees).

Tampa Bay beat the Yankees 5-2 as James Shields fell one out short of his 12th complete game. He went at least eight innings for the 15th time this season, which is the most in MLB and one more than Justin Verlander.

B.J. Upton continued his hot hitting, with two doubles and two game-tying RBI. Upton has been a sparkplug for the Rays offense during their September run, batting .381 with 19 RBI in his last 22 games.

The Rays, who were nine games out of a playoff spot on September 2, are trying to become the first team in major-league history to overcome a deficit of nine games-or-more in September and make the postseason.

Boston’s September collapse continued with a 6-3 loss to the Orioles. The Red Sox are now 6-19 in September, which is tied for their second-most losses in the month in franchise history.

The Red Sox still have not won back-to-back games since August 27. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this stretch of 27 games is Boston’s longest since a 28-game run in 1994.

Josh Beckett allowed six earned runs in six innings for the second straight start, as the Red Sox starting pitching woes deepened. The rotation now has a 7.26 ERA in September, which would be the worst in any month by a Red Sox team (min. 20 games).

The St. Louis Cardinals remain one game behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL Wild Card race, following their 5-4 walk-off loss to the Astros in the 10th inning. It was the 13th walk-off loss for the Cardinals this season, the most in the NL and tied with the Angels and Mariners for the most in the majors.

Jaime Garcia struggled on the mound for the Redbirds, allowing four runs in four innings. The Cardinals had won his previous four starts and Garcia had a 1.74 ERA since September 6 before Monday night’s poor outing.

The Braves couldn’t widen their lead in the NL Wild Card race despite the Cardinals' loss, as they also lost 4-2 to the Phillies. The Braves are now 9-16 overall in September, the worst record among NL teams.

The Braves offense continued to flounder, as they scored three runs or fewer for the 13th time this month. They went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and are 1-for-16 in their last three games, all losses. They entered the month hitting .261 with RISP through August.

In their last 14 games, Tampa Bay Rays' starting pitchers have put up great numbers: they are 6-5 with a 2.55 ERA and 105 innings pitched. They have also allowed only 80 hits and garnered 101 strikeouts.

The Rays starting pitchers are challenging the Philadelphia Phillies starting pitchers for the title of best rotation in the majors. The Rays and Phillies are the only two major league teams to have four pitchers who have made at least 15 starts, and who all have ERAs of 3.50 or lower.

Here are some notes on the adjustments each Rays starter has made this season to reach this point:
• David Price has increased the use of his changeup in his last four starts, nearly doubling its usage. He’s thrown it about 21 pitches per start over his last four starts.

This came after a seven-start slump in which Price had an ERA of 5.18.

With the changeup added to his arsenal, Price has now beaten the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, and lost 2-1 to the Detroit Tigers. In those four starts, he’s allowed three runs in 31 innings.

• In his last start, James Shields pitched his 10th complete game of the season, becoming the second pitcher since 2000 to throw 10 complete games in a season (CC Sabathia had 10 in 2008).

As we noted earlier this season, Shields changed his pitching pattern this season. He’s gone from throwing first-pitch fastballs 65 percent of the time (2010) to just 51 percent of the time in 2011. It’s worked.

He’s pitched nearly the same number of innings as last season, but decreased his runs allowed from 128 to 71 and home runs allowed from 34 to 22.
• Jeff Niemann is 8-1 with a 2.57 ERA since returning to the rotation on June 20, averaging eight strikeouts per nine innings in that stretch. That’s a significant jump from the 6.5 strikeouts per nine innings he’s averaged in the first three seasons of his career.

Niemann has changed the pattern of breaking balls he throws. He’s gone from throwing his curveball one in seven pitches to one in four. He’s already got more strikeouts with his curveball this season (40) than last season (37) despite having thrown 62 fewer innings.

• Jeremy Hellickson is 4-2 with a 2.72 ERA in his last eight starts. That followed a four-start slump in which he was 0-4 with a 4.74 ERA.

Hellickson has succeeded recently by coming further inside to right-handed hitters. During his slump (heat map on left), right-handed hitters were 7-for-13 with three home runs against inside fastballs.

During his hot streak (heat map on right), righty hitters are 5-for-32 against inside pitches. They’ve increased the rate by which they’ve chased such pitches from 27 percent to 40 percent.






Dan Braunstein, Mark Simon and Lee Singer contributed to this story.

David Price set a single-game Tampa Bay Rays record with 14 strikeouts in a 12-0 victory Sunday over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Price's 14 strikeouts passed the previous Rays record of 13 set by James Shields earlier this season and first done by Scott Kazmir in 2007. Price's strikeout total finished one shy of the most by an American League pitcher this season. Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels struck out 15 -- also against the Blue Jays -- on April 10.

The most strikeouts in a game this season belongs to Cliff Lee of the Philadelphia Phillies, who struck out 16 against the Atlanta Braves in seven innings on May 6.

Price, who just turned 26 years old on Friday, flirted with the possibility of nearing the MLB record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game of 20 held by Roger Clemens (done twice in 1986 and 1996) and Kerry Wood in 1998.

Price struck out 10 batters through four innings, which was one more than what Clemens had in his two 20-strikeout games and was two more than what Wood had.

Price proceeded to strike out two more batters in the fifth, which kept him on pace with what Clemens had and was one ahead of Wood's pace. However, Price did not strike out a batter in the sixth inning, the only frame in which a batter did not go down on strikes.

But the left-hander finished with two more in his seventh and final inning of the game. He became the fourth pitcher this season to record 14 strikeouts in seven or fewer innings.

Price became the fourth pitcher to record at least 14 strikeouts on the road against the Blue Jays and the first since Bartolo Colon on May 29, 1998. The first to do it was Mark Langston in 1988 at Exhibition Stadium, the Blue Jays original home from 1977 until 1989.

So how was Price able to rack up so many strikeouts? He relied on what he always does, the fastball. He picked up 10 of his 14 strikeouts on pitches ending on the fastball. It's his third start this season in which he had 10 strikeouts with his fastball. No other starter in baseball even has one. This season, Price has 128 strikeouts ending on the fastball, 30 more than Colon, who is second with 98.

Blue Jays hitters swung 32 times against the pitch and put only four in play, the fewest fastballs ever put in play in a start against Price with a minimum of 20 swings.

With the Philadelphia Phillies losing to the Florida Marlins Friday, the door was open for the Atlanta Braves to cut the Phils' division lead to five games.

But they ran into Chris Capuano.

The left-hander for the New York Mets baffled the Atlanta attack, tossing a two-hit shutout with a career-high 13 strikeouts. It was Capuano's third career shutout and first since 2006.

Capuano struck out 13 without issuing a walk, becoming the first Mets pitcher since David Cone in 1991 to strike out that many without a walk. Capuano is only the sixth pitcher in franchise history to do it.

Using the Bill James Game Score metric (found in every ESPN.com box score), Capuano's 96 score was MLB's best this season.

Capuano was dominant in putting hitters away with two strikes. He worked mostly out of the strike zone do it, inducing Braves hitters to chase. Nine of his 13 strikeouts came on pitches out of the zone. Overall, he took 18 hitters to a two-strike count and retired all 18. Capuano is the first pitcher this season to retire at least 18 hitters without allowing a baserunner when the count reached two strikes.

No major league pitcher had thrown a shutout, in which he struck out at least 13 and allowed two baserunners or fewer since Erik Bedard for the 2007 Orioles. No NL pitcher had done it since Randy Johnson threw a 13-strikeout perfect game against the Braves and Jason Schmidt threw a one-hit, 13-strikeout shutout against the Giants on the same day, May 18, 2004.

The fact that the Braves were stifled by the left-handed Capuano is not shocking. With the loss, the Braves are now 17-22 when a lefty starts, compared to 62-32 vs righties.

Elsewhere around the majors:

• Texas Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz recorded 6 RBI in an 11-7 win over the Los Angeles Angels to increase their AL West lead to three games. It was Cruz's third game this season with 6+ RBI. The last player to have three games with 6+ RBI in a season was Gary Sheffield in 2005.

• With his first-inning home run, Carlos Gonzalez now has an RBI in 10 consecutive games. That is the longest streak in the majors this season, and ties the Colorado Rockies' team record set by Vinny Castilla in 2004.

• Tampa Bay Rays starter James Shields went the distance for his MLB-leading 10th complete game this season, striking out 12 in the win. Shields joins CC Sabathia (2008) as the only pitchers since 2000 to record 10 complete games in a season.

It’s rare anytime Mariano Rivera gives up a home run – he’s allowed only 64 in his 17-year career, which calculates out to be one for about every 68 opponent at-bats.

But entering the night, he had allowed a home run to a former teammate only once. He now has done it twice. Bobby Abreu became that second former teammate to homer off Rivera, joining Mike Stanley, who did it on July 18, 1998.

Abreu and Rivera played together for three seasons (2006-08), but Stanley and Rivera only had one season together – 1995, Rivera’s rookie year.

More rarities from Rivera: the home run came on a 3-1 count. Of the 64 that he’s allowed in his career, this was just the third home run that came on a 3-1 count. He’s allowed more home runs in every other count possible (except 3-0).

Any guess as to the count where he’s allowed the most longballs?

It’s the first pitch of the at-bat, an 0-0 count, where he’s given up 11 homers.

AROUND THE DIAMOND
If you’re a fan of quick baseball, tip your cap to James Shields and the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays and Kansas City Royals combined to play the fastest game in MLB this season, 1 hour and 52 minutes. The previous low was 2:01 by the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox. It was also the fastest game in Rays history, beating the franchise record by a minute. No surprise that two of the fastest four games in team history came in James Shields starts.

Check out the last 18 home runs the San Francisco Giants have hit and you’ll notice a big similarity – they’re all solo shots. The last time they hit a home run that wasn’t a solo shot was more than a month ago, July 6, by Nate Schierholtz. Elias tells us that the Giants’ streak of 18 straight solo homers is the longest in the divisional era (since 1969). No other team had a streak longer than 17.

Two aces squared off in Anaheim Thursday afternoon, and though the Angels emerged as the 1-0 winners against the Rangers, both Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson pitched like Cy Young candidates.

Weaver tossed seven scoreless innings for his 12th straight quality start. That’s the third-longest streak in a single season by an Angels pitcher, behind a 14-gamer in 1977 by Frank Tanana and a 13-start streak by Bert Blyleven in 1989.

Weaver recorded 18 swings-and-misses, his second-highest total this season, and kept the Rangers guessing, with nine misses on fastballs and nine on off-speed pitches.

C.J. Wilson threw a two-hitter but took the complete game loss as the lone run was scored on an error. He’s the first pitcher to a lose a complete game with zero earned runs and two hits or fewer allowed since the Yankees’ Kenny Rogers did it on May 28, 1996 against the Angels.

Wilson did his best to keep the Angels from scoring, allowing zero hits in nine at-bats with runners on base, including three strikeouts.

It was the first win for the Angels with two-or-fewer hits since May 1, 2005 against the Twins, and the first loss for the Rangers allowing fewer than three hits since Aug. 15, 1989 against the Mariners.

Later in the night, two more aces battled in a pitchers’ duel, with James Shields and the Rays winning a tight 2-1 game over CC Sabathia and the Yankees at the Trop.

Shields dominated with his changeup, as the Yankees went 0-for-11 in at-bats ending in the pitch. Shields was also effective in finishing off the Yankees, retiring 15 of the 16 batters that reached a two-strike count on him.

Sabathia went the distance but saw his seven-start win streak end, though he continued his hot pitching, and is now 5-1 with a 0.76 ERA and 58 strikeouts over his last six starts.

Elsewhere around the diamond
•  Justin Verlander continued his stellar season, throwing eight innings of one-run ball against the Twins. Verlander relied on his fastball, throwing it nearly 66 percent of the time, his highest usage this season. He kept his heater out of harm's way, as 42 of his 83 fastballs were out of the strike zone, and the Twins went just 1-for-7 when putting those in play.

•  Seattle Mariners lost 7-5 to the Toronto Blue Jays, extending their losing streak to 12 games. That matches the second-longest losing streak in team history, behind only a 14-game streak in 1992.

•  The Tigers' 6-2 win over the Twins was their 10th straight vs Minnesota. That’s the longest win streak by Detroit over the Twins franchise in team history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

•  Atlanta Braves came back from a 4-0 deficit to beat the Colorado Rockies 9-6 in Denver. Craig Kimbrel earned his 30th save of the season, tying the Braves rookie record set by Kerry Ligtenberg in 1998.

When thinking about strikeouts, what usually comes to mind is a pitcher blowing away a hitter with high-90s heat. However, in a season in which strikeouts have been rising, pitchers have thrown fewer fastballs with two strikes in 2011 than they had through this point in 2010.

As a result, pitchers are recording a higher percentage of strikeouts using offspeed pitches.

Felix Hernandez, second in the American League with 134 strikeouts, has seen his changeup become his most effective two-strike pitch. In fact, with two strikes in the count, out of the 97 plate appearances that ended in a changeup being thrown, Hernandez recorded 58 strikeouts, the highest strikeout percentage using the changeup for any starter in the majors.

When using his fastball in those same situations, of the 108 plate appearances, only 38 resulted in strikeouts, a drop-off of more than 20 percent.

Not far behind Hernandez is James Shields, whose changeup has led to a great first half for the Rays ace. He has recorded 73 strikeouts with the changeup, the most by any pitcher so far this season. Batters are hitting only .103 off Shields' changeup with two strikes in the count, and nearly 56 percent of those plate appearances that have ended in a changeup resulted in strikeouts.

Justin Verlander, tied for the major league lead, is armed with a deadly fastball, but has also used his changeup effectively to close hitters out.

Overall, batters have been hitting .212 off his changeup. But when he throws it in a two-strike count, that number drops to a .058 average. Verlander ranks fifth in strikeout percentage when throwing the changeup with two strikes.

While the changeup has been the key strikeout pitch for some notable pitchers, it's actually the slider that has experienced the largest bump -- nearly 20 percent of Ks in 2011 versus 19 percent in 2010 -- and is a pitch many premier strikeout pitchers have relied upon this season.

No pitcher has used the slider more effectively than Clayton Kershaw, who is currently tied with Verlander for the league lead in strikeouts. Kershaw leads all pitchers with 75 strikeouts via the slider.

CC Sabathia is tied for third with 64 strikeouts using the slider. Nine of his 11 strikeouts in Tuesday's victory over the Cleveland Indians came on that pitch.

Successful relievers have also leaned on the slider in 2011, with no one being more effective than Jonny Venters. In two-strike counts, out of 41 plate appearances against Venters that ended with a slider, 37 resulted in strikeouts. In those same plate appearances, he has allowed only one hit.

Amazingly, his putaway rate, a metric diving number of strikeouts by number of pitches thrown, is 43.5 percent when he throws a slider with two strikes in the count. That's extremely efficient considering the major-league average for putaway rate on all two-strike pitches is only 17.5 percent.

-- Jason Starrett contributed to this report

Recently anything James Shields has started he's gone on to finish. For the third consecutive game Shields pitched a complete game as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Houston Astros. He is the first pitcher in Rays history to throw three consecutive complete games.

Shields hasn't just been piling up innings, but he's also been keeping players off the bases. In each of the starts he's allowed five hits or fewer, just the fourth pitcher since 2000 to compile such a streak.

Two of the previous three -- Roy Halladay in 2003 and Randy Johnson in 2000 -- went on to win the Cy Young award. You have to go back to Greg Maddux in 1998 for the last time a starter did so in four consecutive outings.

This is already Shields' sixth complete game this season, which sets the record for most in a season in franchise history. He is only the sixth pitcher with six complete game victories in his team's first 76 games in the last 20 seasons.

The list is rather impressive with Pat Hentgen in 1997, Randy Johnson in 1994 and John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and David Cone in 1992.

Shields continued to dominate with his changeup, relying on it as an out pitch even more than usual. He recorded 18 of his 27 outs with the pitch.

Astros hitters were 0-for-17 with five strikeouts and a double play on at-bats ending with a Shields changeup.

Just three of his 30 two-strike pitches were fastballs, his lowest in a start in over two years. As a result, all nine of his strikeouts were with his offspeed pitches. All 24 of Shields' strikeouts over his stretch of three consecutive complete games have been with offspeed pitches.

While the Astros were outdueled by Shields, Houston's staff did complete an extremely rare feat. The Astros had three pitchers pitch Friday, all with the last name Rodriguez (Wandy, Fernando, Aneury). Our good friends at Elias passed along this gem. This was the first game in the modern era (since 1900) that a trio of teammates with the same surname pitched in the same game.

Elsewhere around the diamond:

• Jon Lester became the latest pitcher to go for his 10th victory only to come up short as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Boston Red Sox. According to Elias, excluding 1981 (strike delayed season), the last time that the Majors didn't have a 10-game winner until at least June 25 was in 1950. Four pitchers earned their tenth wins of the season on June 28 that year (Art Houtteman, Bob Lemon, Preacher Roe, and Johnny Sain).

-- Dan Braunstein contributed to this report

It’s been called the Year of the Pitcher II, and the drop in offense this season has been well-documented. There’s been no shortage of outstanding pitching performances recently, as three of the six best-pitched games this season -- according to Bill James’ Game Score -- have come in the past week.

On June 14, Justin Verlander threw a two-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts, allowing his first hit with one out in the eighth inning. Verlander’s Game Score of 94 is the best in baseball this season, surpassing James Shields' 93.

That same night, Shields threw a five-hit shutout to beat the Red Sox and Jered Weaver got into the act as well -- he threw his own five-hit shutout in a win over Seattle.

One night later, Josh Beckett threw a one-hit shutout, striking out six and walking nobody, tied for the fifth-best Game Score (91) this season at the time. Livan Hernandez also threw a shutout that night -- his second since July 2004 -- with six strikeouts and no walks.

Cliff Lee threw a two-hit shutout the next night, the sixth shutout in the majors in three days. Pitchers gave hitters a two-day break before Seattle’s Jason Vargas threw his second career shutout (and second this season) against Lee’s Phillies on Sunday.

Shields got back in the action Sunday as well, allowing four hits and striking out 10 in a complete game victory, but didn’t get a shutout because of an unearned run. Verlander also went the distance, allowing four hits and one run. Those performances got them a spot in our Cross-Sport Power Rankings.

Monday night, Tim Hudson threw eight shutout innings in a win over the Blue Jays, and Clayton Kershaw threw a two-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts, racking up a 93 Game Score.

Kershaw finished his shutout by striking out the side in the ninth inning. According to Elias, the last Dodgers starter to finish a shutout by striking out the side in the ninth was Sandy Koufax in his perfect game in 1965.

With all these standout performances on the mound, teams are looking everywhere for offense, and they’ve been finding it lately from the pitchers who’ve been holding it down.

Lee got at many hits as he allowed Thursday, the first Phillies pitcher to allow two hits or fewer in a shutout and get a pair of hits since Steve Carlton in 1980 (according to the Elias Sports Bureau). He’s 8-for-20 with two doubles, four RBI and a stolen base in his past nine starts.

Daniel Hudson allowed one run in a complete game victory Friday, and added an RBI double off of Edwin Jackson -- for whom he was traded last season. The next night, Ubaldo Jimenez got his second win of the season, driving in two runs in a one-run win.

Monday night, three pitchers got it done at the plate: Jake Arrieta got his first career hit and RBI in a win over the Pirates. Kershaw drove in two runs in the Dodgers’ 4-0 win -- raising his batting average to .294 -- and he has as many hits this season as he had in his first three seasons combined.

Finally, Tim Hudson hit a two-run homer in the Braves’ 2-0 win. According to Elias, he’s the fifth pitcher in the past 40 seasons to pitch in a game and hit a home run that accounted for all of that game’s runs.

James Shields scattered four hits over nine innings against the Florida Marlins as he picked up his major league-leading fifth complete game. He had five complete games in his first five seasons combined.

The five complete games already tied Joe Kennedy's franchise record set back in 2002. Shields is one of six players since 2000 to throw five complete games within his team's first 75 games of a season.

It was his second complete game against the Marlins this season in two starts against the in-state rival. What's most impressive about this outing is how Shields varied his approach from the previous start.

On May 22 against the Marlins, Shields threw 35 percent fastballs and 21 percent curveballs. On Sunday, Shields threw 29 percent fastballs and 30 percent curveballs, his second-highest percentage in a start this season.

Shields particularly varied his repertoire to put hitters away. He still relied primarily on his devastating changeup, but threw his curveball nearly twice as often with two strikes as he did the last time against the Marlins. He threw 10 curveballs with two strikes and induced five outs, including four by strikeout, without allowing a hit.

Not to be outdone, Justin Verlander threw his second consecutive complete game, giving him four on the season, tied for the second-most in the majors. It's his 11th complete game since 2009, third-most among all pitchers during that span.

Verlander shut down the Colorado Rockies on Sunday using his fastball and curveball more than usual. Eleven of his 13 outs with two strikes came on those two pitches, including four of his five strikeouts.

He excelled by finishing batters off when he had them down in the count. Verlander took 14 hitters to a two-strike count, didn't allow a hit and didn't walk anyone. It was his first start this season in which he didn't allow a hit or walk a batter after going to two strikes.

Through 15 starts Verlander has a 0.85 WHIP, best in the majors among starters. In the divisional era, only three times has a starter finished a season with a sub-0.90 WHIP with 15 or more starts in a season. Each of the three times that pitcher went on to win the Cy Young award (2000 Pedro Martinez, 1994-95 Greg Maddux).

Elsewhere around the majors

It's been a tough month in the city of Miami, with the Marlins now 1-18 in June. The Marlins' 10-game losing streak is the franchise's longest since 1999 and just one game shy of tying the franchise record. The 18 losses are just two shy of tying the franchise record for losses in a month, and the Marlins still have nine games to play.

According to Elias, the Baltimore Orioles, who went 1-22 in April of 1988, own the record for the worst win percentage by any team in a single month.

For the second time this week it appeared we would have a pitcher to throw two no-hitters in a regular season for the first time since 1973 when Nolan Ryan did so. But like Francisco Liriano on Sunday, Justin Verlander's bid at a second no-hitter ended in the eighth inning.

However Verlander finished the game notching a two-hit shutout, his third complete game of the season. More importantly he put the Detroit Tigers back in sole possession of first place in the AL Central for the first time since July 10 of last season.

While he did not complete the second no-hitter, by some measures Verlander did complete a better performance.

Game Score, a metric developed by Bill James, measures a pitcher's single-game performance based on innings pitched, runs, hits, strikeouts and walks.The average score is around 50 and most games are between 0-100.

According to this metric, Verlander scored a 94 with his performance on Tuesday. In his no-hitter earlier this season his Game Score was a 90. In fact, the 94 was the highest recorded Game Score this season.

Verlander struck out 12 batters, his 14th game with double-digit strikeouts in the last three seasons. That is tied with Jon Lester for most in the American League during that span and trails only Tim Lincecum (18) for most in all of baseball.
The Cleveland Indians missed at 24 of his pitches, the second straight start Verlander has generated that many swings-and-misses. Only two other pitchers have gotten 24 or more misses in a start this season.

With this performance Verlander passed Roy Halladay for the lead in overall swing-and-misses in 2011. Those two are at 205 and 201, respectively, more than 20 ahead of anyone else.

Not to be outdone, James Shields threw his major-league leading third shutout of the season as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Boston Red Sox to snap their nine-game win streak.

According to Elias, Shields is the first pitcher to throw a shutout to end a win streak of at least nine games by the opposing team since Rodrigo Lopez shut out the Oakland Athletics to end their 10-game win streak on September 3, 2003.

The last pitcher to shut out the Red Sox to end a win streak of at least nine games was Jim Abbott on August 30, 1989.

This marked Shield's second career shutout against the Red Sox. He accounts for half of the franchises career shutouts pitched against Boston. Scott Kazmir in 2006 and Steve Trachsel in 2000 each had one.

Shields' changeup continues to be his out pitch. Red Sox hitters were 0-10 with four strikeouts in at-bats ending with it. He now has 53 strikeouts with his changeup this season, seven more than any other pitcher in baseball.