Another Jeremy Hellickson start, another Jeremy Hellickson victory. The young righty for the Tampa Bay Rays laid out another laudable performance, this time taking out the Baltimore Orioles in the third and final installment of the three-game series at Tropicana Field.
Hellickson (3-0) pitched through six innings and gave up only one run on three hits. He yielded one walk and struck out five batters, his fewest in his three starts. He didn’t seem to have his sharpest stuff but maintained his ice-cold poise; if this is an off day for the kid, I think I can live with it.
Tampa Bay got just enough offensive production to get it done. Carl Crawford started the scoring with a home run in the bottom of the first inning, his first long ball sing July 26. Ben Zobrist had walked ahead of him but was picked off, taking a free run off the board in essence.
Epic pain-in-the-ass Luke Scott doubled to lead off the top of the second. Baltimore worked him in with a pair of sacrifice flies to center, the first from Adam Jones to move Scott to third. Felix Pie’s long fly out allowed Scott to tag up at third and score to tie it up.
