Zack Littell allowed just one hit over seven innings as the Tampa Bay Rays claimed their three-game series with Boston on Thursday night, blanking the Red Sox 2-0 in a combined one-hit shutout in St. Petersburg, Fla.
In an economical 75-pitch outing, Littell (8-9) fanned seven without a walk in his 28th start.
The right-hander got plenty of soft contact from the visitors. He retired 21 of 22 batters he faced, allowing just a single to center by Nick Sogard in the third — the only Red Sox baserunner on the night.
Littell stretched his active scoreless innings streak to 20 as the Rays (75-78) evened their season series with Boston at 5-5.
Edwin Uceta and Garrett Cleavinger (sixth save) retired all three batters they faced in the eighth and ninth, respectively, as Rays’ pitchers faced only 28 batters.
Brandon Lowe had an RBI, and Jose Caballero singled and produced his American League-leading 44th stolen base.
In a less than lackluster offensive performance, the Red Sox (76-77) managed just 10 hits and five runs in the series and finished 2-5 on their road trip.
Rafael Devers went 0-for-11 with eight strikeouts against the Rays.
In his 29th start, Brayan Bello (14-8) did not match Littell’s effort but was strong nonetheless. The right-hander yielded one run on five hits in 5 2/3 innings, recording seven strikeouts and two walks over 101 pitches.
After the Red Sox rallied for a 2-1 win on Wednesday night on Jarren Duran’s eighth-inning single, the pitching of Bello and Littell was sharp over the first two innings.
However, the speed of Jose Siri proved to be the difference in the Rays going up 1-0 in third after the center fielder’s one-out single.
With Siri off on the pitch, Dylan Carlson slashed a single to center and Siri scooted to third. Lowe’s shallow sacrifice fly to right sent Siri headfirst across home plate for the lead.
Boston left fielder Tyler O’Neill nipped a potential good inning for the Rays in the bud in the sixth when he fielded Jonathan Aranda’s hard leadoff single off the left field wall and fired to second baseman Sogard for the putout as Aranda tried to stretch it into a double.
The Rays added an unearned insurance marker in the seventh when Taylor Walls singled, stole second base and advanced to third on catcher Danny Jansen’s throwing error. Carlson plated him with an RBI groundout.
–Field Level Media
