Manny Ramirez Sits As Rays Fall to 0-5 With Loss to Angels

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The winless Tampa Bay Rays lost again Wednesday when Dan Haren and the Los Angeles Angels shut down the AL East champions 5-1.

The Rays fell to 0-5. In four of those games, they finished with exactly one run and four hits.

Rookie Jeremy Hellickson (0-1) lost despite striking out 10 in 5 2/3 innings.

Tampa Bay designated hitter Manny Ramirez, who has one hit in 17 at-bats this season, was out of the starting lineup. He flied out as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning and will miss Thursday's game at the Chicago White Sox while tending to a personal matter.

Rays left fielder Johnny Damon replaced Ramirez as the DH. Damon went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, and is 1-for-15 this year.

Haren (1-0) scattered four hits over 7 2/3 innings and struck out six. Relievers Kevin Jepsen and Jordan Walden completed the combined four-hitter.

Alberto Callaspo homered for Los Angeles. The third baseman had two RBIs in the Angels' 5-3 win over Tampa Bay on Tuesday night.

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B.J. Upton homered for the second straight game, a solo shot during the fifth that pulled the Rays within 2-1.

Bobby Abreu put the Angels up 1-0 with an RBI double in the first. Callaspo hit a solo home run in the fourth.

Los Angeles took a 3-1 lead on Jeff Mathis' run-scoring double in the sixth. Mark Trumbo, who had his first career three-hit game, extended the Angels' advantage to 4-1 with an eighth-inning RBI single.

Torii Hunter singled home a run in the ninth.

Notes
Abreu has 525 career doubles, which is the same number as Hall of Famer Ted Williams. … Angels INF Erick Aybar underwent an MRI exam on his strained left oblique. … Upton is the only Tampa Bay player with a hit in all five games this season. … Hellickson's previous strikeout high was seven, accomplished during a limited stint with Tampa Bay last year.