Tampa Bay Rays Waste Zack Littell Start
The Tampa Bay Rays got some good news on Sunday with starter Zack Littell looking awesome through five innings of work. But Rays manager Kevin Cash made the call to pull Littell and put the game's outcome in the hands of his bullpen.
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It did not work out.
Tampa Bay's bullpen could not keep the Detroit Tigers in check as the visitors notched a 9-3 win at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The news, though, was not all bad for the Rays, who won the weekend series over the Tigers.
What about Littell, though? He only threw 69 pitches in his Sunday outing, according to MLB.com.
Littell had his splitter working overtime, keeping Tigers hitters off-balance with it. He faced 19 Detroit batters and did not throw one pitch in a three-ball count.
Littell only gave up one earned run on Dillon Dingler's second-inning RBI single. As for the Rays' bullpen? It allowed eight earned runs late, putting Littell's hopes for a victory out of reach.
Zack Littell not disappointed in start against Tigers
'Kind of felt like the culmination of all the stuff that I've kind of been trying to improve on,' Littell said after the game. 'Kind of came together today, so definitely want to build on that one.'
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Tampa Bay has won 22 of its last 31 games and sits 2.5 games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East standings. The Rays will enjoy an off day on Monday.
'It would have been nice to get a sweep, but you kind of have to lean on what we've done and [that we are] playing some really good ball and just keep it going,' reliever Garrett Cleavinger said.
Cash looked back on his choices after taking Littell out and gave his reasons for making such a move.
'Just given the off-day, the matchup, them turning the lineup back over with (Kerry) Carpenter and (Riley) Greene -- those guys are really good,' Cash said.
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'I thought Lit gave us every opportunity and felt like, where our bullpen was, that we could try to shorten the game a little bit.'
With the day off, Tampa Bay has a chance to gives its players some rest and get ready for a postseason push this summer.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 23, 2025, where it first appeared.
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