"While the cozy, air-conditioned confines of Tropicana Field have brought out the best in Rays starter James Shields, Wednesday's outing, at least through two innings, had all the trappings of a game Tampa Bay has gotten used to losing the past three weeks.

Oakland's Emil Brown and Carlos Gonzalez hit back-to-back solo homers to start the second, putting the Rays in an early hole. But if Shields was rattled, he didn't show it. And if he was worried about the slumping Rays' offense getting him back in the game ... well, he wasn't.

The once-slumbering Jonny Gomes and Ben Zobrist, who was right in thinking he would be optioned to Triple-A Durham after the game, provided an unlikely set of back-to-back homers in the fifth to match the A's. Then Zobrist's RBI single in the seventh proved to be the difference in the Rays' 4-3 victory before an announced crowd of 23,437."