Major League Baseball

Youkilis' blast backs Beckett, beats Rays

Published Jun. 15, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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Jeremy Hellickson pitched a good game. It wasn't nearly enough to match a great performance by Josh Beckett.

Beckett pitched a one-hitter and Kevin Youkilis hit a three-run homer to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 3-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night.

''He was pretty impressive,'' Rays manager Joe Maddon said of Beckett. ''But I'm real happy with what Jeremy did. He did everything right. All that kind of stuff makes you feel good about his future.''

One day after James Shields cooled Boston's red-hot offense with a five-hit shutout that stopped a nine-game winning streak for the AL East leaders, Beckett (6-2) tossed a gem of his own. He limited the Rays to Reid Brignac's third-inning infield single while striking out six and walking none.

Youkilis homered off Hellickson (7-5) in the seventh, ending the rookie right-hander's streak of consecutive innings without allowing a run at home at 24. The Red Sox were held to one hit before Dustin Pedroia tripled and AL batting leader Adrian Gonzalez drew an intentional walk to set the stage for Youkilis' towering drive over the left-field wall.

''He got it up in the air enough for it to go out,'' Hellickson said.

Beckett retired the last 19 batters he faced. The right-hander threw 97 pitches to outduel Hellickson, who allowed three runs and four hits in seven innings.

''Helly threw one bad pitch,'' Tampa Bay DH Johnny Damon said. ''It's like that in this game, in the American League East. A lot of times, it comes down to one pitch.''

The Red Sox outscored opponents 83-36 during the longest winning streak in the majors this season, however they have generated few opportunities the past two nights against the Rays.

Gonzalez had three of the team's five hits off Shields in the series opener, all singles. Pedroia singled in the first for the first hit off Hellickson and Jacoby Ellsbury drew a fourth-inning walk, however both baserunners were erased on double plays.

''He didn't pitch like a young pitcher,'' Boston manager Terry Francona said.

Pedroia agreed.

''He was rolling along,'' he said. ''Kind of made one mistake and we made him pay.''

Beckett retired eight straight before Brignac hit a slow roller up the third-base line and easily beat the throw to first with two outs in the third. Beckett's errant pickoff throw allowed Brignac to move into scoring position, however Damon struck out to end the inning.

''That's pretty good,'' Beckett said of Brignac's hit. ''I think the ball would have probably bounced. It was a changeup we were trying to bury and buried it, and he hit it.''

Damon finished 0 for 4, ending his franchise-record on-base (by hit, walk or hit by pitch) streak at 39 games - the longest stretch in the majors since Florida's Logan Morrison's streak of 42 games last season.

Tampa Bay has been held to one hit or less seven times since the start of the 2007 season, the most in the majors.

Notes: Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney was among the crowd of 19,388. ... The Rays are two games into a stretch in which they will play 14 of 32 against the Red Sox and Yankees. ... Tampa Bay has been shutout four times this season. ... Boston LF Carl Crawford, the former Rays' star playing in just second game at Tropicana Field as a visiting player, went 1 for 3. He was hitless in three at-bats during the series opener Tuesday night.