ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- James Shields allowed three runs pitching into the ninth inning, and Jonny Gomes and Ben Zobrist hit back-to-back homers to lead the American League East-leading Tampa Bay Rays past the A's 4-3 on Wednesday.
Shields (9-6) gave up six hits and struck out seven in improving to 5-1 in his last six starts. Shields' bid for his fourth complete game of the season ended when Jack Cust doubled with one out in the ninth.
Troy Percival replaced Shields and got the final two outs for his 20th save in 22 chances. It's the 10th time in his career the right-hander has recorded at least 20 saves.
Tampa Bay is 40-16 at home this year. The Rays are one victory away from the franchise record of 41 home wins in a single season, set in 2004 and matched in 2006.
The A's have lost seven of eight.
Gomes hit a two-run shot and Zobrist homered on the next pitch off Greg Smith in the fifth, giving the Rays a 3-2 lead. Gomes is just 6-for-42 over his last 24 games, but four of the hits have been homers.
Zobrist added an RBI single in the seventh that extended the Tampa Bay lead to 4-2.
Smith (5-9) allowed four runs and five hits in six-plus innings, dropping to 1-4 over his last six starts.
Emil Brown and Carlos Gonzalez hit consecutive solo homers in the second to put Oakland ahead 2-0. Brown added a sacrifice fly in the ninth off Percival.
Smith retired his first nine hitters before Akinori Iwamura singled to start the fourth. He then caught Iwamura leaning the wrong way at first for his 11th pickoff of the season.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.