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Hellickson goes the distance, Rays tame O's

May 14, 2011 - 3:28 AM St. Petersburg, FL (Sports Network) - Jeremy Hellickson tossed his first career shutout, allowing only four hits and leading the Tampa Bay Rays to a 3-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

Hellickson (4-2) also walked a batter and struck out three in the 117-pitch performance. The 24-year-old right-hander was making his 11th career start and beat the Orioles and Jeremy Guthrie for the second time this month.

He threw five scoreless innings against Baltimore this past Saturday, helping the Rays to an 8-2 victory. Guthrie gave up seven runs in five innings to take the loss.

"It was night and day compared to the last time I faced these guys," Hellickson said. "I wanted to come out early and establish my fastball, and me and (catcher John Jaso) were on the same page pretty much the whole game."

While Guthrie (1-6) was much improved in Friday's rematch -- limiting the Rays to three runs in eight innings -- he dropped his sixth consecutive decision.

But Baltimore's offense didn't provide much support, either. In Guthrie's last seven starts, the Orioles have scored just six runs while he was in the game. They've also posted just eight runs in his six losses this season.

He absorbed a tough one Friday despite making few mistakes.

"There wasn't much margin for error," said Orioles manager Buck Showalter.

One of those mistakes came in the second, after Evan Longoria led off with a single. Guthrie then dealt a first-pitch cutter on the inside part of the plate to Matt Joyce. It was slightly up in the zone and Joyce turned on it, sending the ball over the right-field fence for a 2-0 edge.

The runs were enough for Hellickson, who retired the first five batters he faced on groundouts and didn't allow a baserunner until the third inning.

Hellickson ran into some trouble in the fourth and fifth innings, when Baltimore had two men on with two outs. But Hellickson got Adam Jones to ground into a fielder's choice to end the fourth, and retired Brian Roberts on a fly out to escape the following inning's jam.

Those were the only scoring chances the Orioles had -- Hellickson retired the final 13 batters he faced.

After Johnny Damon hit a two-out solo homer in the eighth to give the Rays their third run, Hellickson worked a 1-2-3 ninth, ending the game with a Luke Scott groundout.

Game Notes

The Orioles' failure to support Guthrie dates back to last season. In his 20 losses since the start of 2010, they have scored just 24 runs while he was in the game and 43 total...Guthrie allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out five...Rays outfielder B.J. Upton served the second game of the two-game suspension MLB gave him for his actions toward home plate umpire Chad Fairchild on May 5 versus Toronto...Tampa Bay right fielder Ben Zobrist did not cross the plate Friday, snapping his streak of 10 consecutive games with a run scored. He had tied Alex Sanchez's franchise record.