By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer
Friday, April 29, 2011
Rays vs. Angels
When/where: 1:10 today; Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg
TV/radio: Ch. 13; 620-AM, 680-AM (Spanish)
Starting pitchers
Rays
RH James Shields (2-1, 2.35)
Angels
RH Joel Piniero (0-0, 0.00)
Promotion: REO Speedwagon concert postgame
Watch for
Complete-Game James: Shields has logged back-to-back complete-game wins his past two starts. He is 5-3 with a 3.16 ERA in nine games against his hometown Angels.
Getting started: Piniero, on the disabled list since spring training (back), makes his first appearance this season. He is 2-4, 4.91 overall in 12 games vs. the Rays.
Key matchups
Rays vs. Piniero
Johnny Damon 11-for-36
Casey Kotchman 4-for-15
Felipe Lopez 7-for-24, HR
Angels vs. Shields
Bobby Abreu 4-for-24, HR
Howie Kendrick 9-for-15
Vernon Wells 10-for-36, HR
On deck
Sunday: vs. Angels, 1:40. Sun Sports. Rays — TBA; Angels — Jered Weaver (6-0, 0.99)
Who says they're light-hitting?
With a team-record eight RBIs in Game 1 Thursday, Ben Zobrist matched the single-game best by a second baseman in the past 60 years, joining Adam Kennedy (2000) and Ronnie Belliard (2003).
Hit streak chart of the day
Timely hitting
Ben Zobrist on Thursday became the fourth player in history, dating to 1920, to have at least seven hits and 10 RBIs in a single day.
Year Player, team H/RBIs
1929Jim Bottomley, St.L7/11
1935 Pete Fox, Det. 8/10
1972 Nate Colbert, SD 7/13
2011 Ben Zobrist, TB 7/10
• He also matched the third-highest total for RBIs in a game with only one homer; Phil Weintraub had an 11-RBI game for the 1944 Giants.
Longest hitting streaks in Rays history:
19 Jason Bartlett5/15-6/25/2009
18 Quentin McCracken8/18-9/9/1998
17 Aubrey Huff 8/23-9/9/2002
16 Johnny Damon4/8-Thursday
16 Ben Zobrist9/27/09-4/13/10
16 Aaron Ledesma9/15/98-5/14/99