Hellickson wins third straight; Rays beat O's

Jeremy Hellickson took the mound before Sunday's game with AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" rocking another big crowd at Tropicana Field.

The song is a tribute to Hellickson's nickname - "Hellboy."

What the Tampa Bay Rays really need is for the 23-year-old rookie right-hander to help the team along the highway to the playoffs. Toward that end, Hellickson has done just fine.

Without his best fastball Sunday, Hellickson pitched with a savvy beyond his big-league experience by throwing six innings of one-run ball in the Rays' 3-2 victory against the Baltimore Orioles in front of 29,654.

The win coupled with New York's loss at Kansas City moved the Rays to within one game of the first-place Yankees in the American League East. Mix in Boston's loss at Texas and the Rays increased their lead over the Red Sox in the wild-card race to five games.

"It's what I'm supposed to do," Hellickson said when asked for his thoughts on helping the Rays strengthen their postseason chances.

As Carl Crawford, who had three of the Rays' five hits, said, "It's fun to play in a pennant race."

Imagine how much fun it must be for someone making just his third major-league start. How about it, Hellboy?

"I really try not to think about it," Hellickson said.

Hellickson became the first Tampa Bay pitcher to begin his career with three straight wins. He is the first major-league pitcher since 1920, the start of baseball's modern era, to pitch at least six innings and allow three or fewer hits in his first three major-league starts.

What's more, he did it on a day when his fastball wasn't at its best. Instead of panicking, which you might expect from a rookie making his third big-league start with his team sandwiched between the Yankees and Red Sox in a pennant race, Hellickson did what he was taught - find a way to get hitters out. He let his change-up carry the day until he found his fastball in the fifth inning.

"I was concerned he wasn't on top of his game," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "I also thought this is good. Let's see what he does, and he did. He just pitched. He just absolutely pitched. You normally see that out of a guy who's been here for a while on a day when things just aren't right. But for a guy who's been here a couple of weeks, it's really impressive to see."

Hellickson did enough to hand the Orioles their first back-to-back losses under new manager Buck Showalter - three hits, one run, one walk and five strikeouts in six innings.

"I just kept throwing (my fastball). It finally came. I was mixing in a lot of change-ups like always, I guess, and just trying to get strike one with something other than a fastball," Hellickson said. "You don't ever want to panic out there. I just kept throwing strikes. I kind of stayed away from the inside with it, didn't feel real good going in there. The last few innings, it came back and felt good."

The Rays' offense, led by Crawford's second multihit game of the month and first three-hit game since July 5, did just enough to enable Hellickson and the bullpen to complete the victory.

Crawford homered in the first inning, his first since July 26, and singled home a run in the second.

Dan Wheeler, who allowed a home run in the seventh, Joaquin Benoit and Rafael Soriano combined for three innings of relief as the Rays won their 71st game of the season. Soriano closed out the victory with three fly balls to Matt Joyce in right field for his 33rd save.

The AL West-leading Rangers arrive tonight at the Trop for the start of a three-game series that kicks off with the marquee matchup of David Price vs. Cliff Lee.

Just more pennant race fun for the Rays.

"When it's close like (this) it keeps everybody into it, keeps everybody playing well. It's nice to be going back and forth, one game, stuff like that," Crawford said. "You come to the ballpark every day with something on your mind, something to get you going."

How do you feel about that, Hellboy?

"That's what we're all here for - to get to that point (the postseason)," Hellickson said. "We've got to keep winning."