Rays fall to A's, send Hellickson down

Phase One of the Jeremy Hellickson Project is complete. Now it's on to Phase Two, which is turning the Tampa Bay Rays top pitching prospect into a bullpen guy.

The Rays optioned Hellickson after Friday's 5-4 loss to the Oakland A's not to Triple-A Durham as expected, but Class-A Charlotte where they will monitor his workload and give him at least one chance to work out of the bullpen in a game before recalling him Sept. 1, when rosters expand to 40 players.

"This is something we have talked about in advance," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "I know he's been very much aware of it. From the outside looking in it might seem awkward or strange, but from the inside looking out it's very common-sensical. For us, this is something we planned on doing this way.

"There's nothing he could have done to change that outside of somebody being hurt, possibly. But for now we're getting the other two guys back soon. We just felt it was the right thing to do for now."

Hellickson said the news caught him a little off-guard.

"I had no idea," he said. "I guess I had an idea. The first I heard was what they told me (after the game)."

And how did he take it?

"I'll be back in 10 days," he said. "Disappointed, obviously. We got Wade (Davis) and (Jeff) Niemann's coming back, and they've earned it to get back in the rotation."

Hellickson made his major-league debut Aug. 2 in an effort to create and extra day of rest for the rotation. He was send back to Durham after pitching seven innings of three-hit ball against Minnesota and collecting his first big-league win.

But Hellickson was back eight days later when Niemann was placed on the disabled list with a right shoulder strain. Davis had been placed on the DL with the same injury.

Davis is expected to rejoin the rotation Tuesday in Anaheim and Niemann is scheduled to start Wednesday against the Angels.

Maddon maintained from the start that Hellickson was not going to join the rotation despite his outstanding year at Triple A. Unless there is another injury to a starter, there is no room for Hellickson in the rotation, because the Rays are committed to the five-man rotation they have used all season.

"It doesn't preclude the fact that he still could start at some time," Maddon said. "We want to make sure he gets a little side work, cut back on the innings, just try to monitor him the rest of the season and utilize him the best that we can."

Hellickson has pitched out of the bullpen five times in his professional career, the last time being in 2006 with Short Class-A Hudson Valley.

"I don't know," Hellickson said when asked if he thought the transition to the bullpen would be tough. "I mean it shouldn't be. But I don't know. I've only thrown a couple of innings out of the bullpen. It wasn't too much different. We'll see."

In all, Hellickson made four starts for the Rays. He was 3-0 with 2.05 ERA.

Against the A's on Friday, Hellickson had the Rays in position to win and move into a tie for first place in the American League East with the New York Yankees.

The 23-year-old rookie allowed seven hits in 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs - matching the total allowed during his first three starts combined.

He turned a 4-3 lead over to the bullpen, but with the help of an eighth inning error by second baseman Ben Zobrist, the bullpen let the game get away for the second straight night.

This time it was Joaquin Benoit, who struggled with his command and took the loss as the Rays lost for just the third time in the 63 games in which they held a lead after seven innings.

"They just outplayed us," Maddon said. "They played better than we did. They made plays. They ran the bases well. They pitched better. They beat us. They deserved to win that game."

Zobrist gave the Rays a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh with his seventh home run of the year and first in 19 games.

Benoit, who came on to get the final out of the seventh inning, immediately got into trouble in the eighth when he walked Jack Cust to start the inning, then allowed a single to right by Kevin Kouzmanoff. Both runners advanced when right fielder Matt Joyce threw behind Kouzmanoff.

Gabe Gross, pinch-running for Cust, scored on a sacrifice fly. After Benoit walked pinch-hitter Mark Ellis with two outs, Maddon brought in Lance Cormier. Cormier got Cliff Pennington to hit a grounder to Zobrist, who bobbled it then threw late to first baseman Carlos Peña.

"A pretty little two-hopper, not that difficult of a play, and I just didn't get it clean," Zobrist said. "Lance came in and did a good job to get the ball that we needed to get the out. I've been playing good defense this year, and picked a bad time to make an error there."

It only the second error of the season for Zobrist.

"Ben's an outstanding second baseman. He makes that play 101 times out of a 100," Maddon said. "That was just an unfortunate play. He's very, very good. That's something that normally doesn't happen."

NOTEWORTHY

B.J. Upton's 10-game hitting streak came to an end ... Evan Longoria's hitting streak was stopped at six games ... Maddon said he expects RHP Chad Qualls to rejoin the team today after missing the past two games because of a death in the family ... The Rays are 7-9 in their past 16 games. They are 10-9 in August after going 19-7 in July. They have also lost six of their last eight on the road.