"Jeremy Hellickson was brilliant.

Evan Longoria continued his power surge.

Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays gained ground on the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the American League East.

All in all, after an 8-0 suffocation of the Seattle Mariners, it was a very satisfying Saturday night for the 20,148 fans at Tropicana Field.

"We need to keep sneaking up from behind," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "We want it to be like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. We want to be, 'Who are those guys?'

"I love these days. We need more of these days."

Maddon has gotten plenty of those good days recently from his starting pitching. Hellickson continued that trend, working eight innings of shutout ball, allowing just one runner to reach third base. With Hellickson's pitch count at 102, Maddon turned to Joel Peralta for the ninth inning.

By then, the drama was long over.

The Rays collected 13 hits, including three each by designated hitter Johnny Damon and right fielder Ben Zobrist, plus four RBIs from Longoria, who hit his 20th home run in the first inning. Additionally, rookie left fielder Desmond Jennings had three stolen bases, tying the most ever by a Ray not named Carl Crawford.

Longoria, the third Ray to compile four 20-homer seasons (along with Carlos Pena and Aubrey Huff), also became only the second third baseman in major-league history to hit 20-plus homers in each of his first four seasons."