Early run lasts all night

It seemed unlikely at the time, but pity poor James Shields, who was left to consider the damage done only by his second pitch on Thursday evening against Seattle.
A pretty standard fastball held up and invited the Mariners' lead-off man, Ichiro Suzuki, to dispatch it high into the right-field seats. Okay, these things happen. But at the bottom of the first there is plenty of times to turn it round.
Or maybe not.
So much for the fact that Shields never encountered even a hint of trouble after that, with only one Seattle runner making it past first base in the balance of his seven innings. On the mound for the Mariners was Felix Hernandez and he dominated the Rays' hitters for seven innings, giving up nothing.
"It's tough to lose, period," said Pat Burrell. "But when you get that kind of effort from your starter you'd like to be able to at least scrape one across."
When the Rays did get a man on base, the 23-year-old they call King Felix pounded his fastball relentlessly and prevented them from scoring.
It was the second time in his career Shields was charged with a loss after allowing only one run, although he did know he would have to be on tip-top form with Hernandez on the other side.
"My job after that is to shut 'em down and give the team a chance to come back at any point in the game," Shields said. "Unfortunately, Felix was pretty nasty tonight."
Scoring isn't getting any easier for the Rays, and a three-game trip to Oakland might not help matters any.