Littell carries spring momentum into lights-out debut

ST. PETERSBURG -- This time last year, Zack Littell was getting ready to start the season as a reliever for the Rangers’ Triple-A team in Round Rock, Texas.

He’s taken an unusual path since then, the kind that doesn’t typically end with someone starting the third game of the year for a team coming off a 99-win season. He was traded to the Red Sox for cash considerations and designated for assignment five days later. He landed with the Rays, made four relief appearances and appeared to be on the fringe of their roster, only to develop into a critical stretch-run starter for their injury-depleted rotation.

• How Littell went from waiver claim to starting rotation

This is what the Rays do, as they’ve often shown. Now, it seems this is what Littell does, too.

Littell picked up right where he left off last year in his season debut, firing six scoreless innings and striking out six in the Rays’ 5-1 win over the Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon at Tropicana Field.

All of this -- moving from the bullpen to the rotation, stepping into a key spot on a staff in need of reliable starters, efficiently recording outs -- can’t be as easy as he’s made it look, right?

“No, it’s definitely not,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “It does look easy at times, but no, it’s not that easy. … When you’re filling up the zone like he does, you’re going to allow yourself opportunities for success, and we’ve seen that now time and time again.”

After establishing himself as a starter late last year, Littell had a rare opportunity this spring to focus on preparing for the season rather than trying to compete for a spot on the Opening Day roster. He pitched well anyway, working 11 consecutive scoreless innings before finally allowing two runs in his final Spring Training outing.

The right-hander permitted only four hits and two walks on Saturday, and Toronto advanced just one runner to third base during his time on the mound. But he still said Saturday’s outing felt like more of a struggle than it may have appeared.

Not that he was complaining about the way it went, of course.

“Nights like this almost feel better, right? You kind of have to fight a little bit,” Littell said. “It's a lot easier to go out there when you're feeling good and you’ve got all your stuff working. On a night like tonight, where you might not have the best stuff or you don't feel as great as you want to, to go out there and grind out six and to win the ballgame is big.”

Whenever Littell needed to make a big pitch against the Blue Jays, he did. After giving up two singles to start the second inning, it took him two pitches to get a double-play grounder from Ernie Clement and only three more to strike out Kevin Kiermaier, stranding Daniel Vogelbach at third.

He walked No. 9 hitter Cavan Biggio in the third, but another double-play grounder from George Springer quickly got him out of that inning. But his finest moment might have been his last.

With two outs and a runner on first, he fell behind Vogelbach, 3-0. He came back with three straight sliders: one for a called strike, another that Vogelbach fouled off and another that darted inside for a swinging strike to end the inning.

“I kinda was just like, ‘I don't really care if he hits it off the scoreboard. We're not gonna walk him right here,’” Littell said. “For me to battle back in a 3-0 count from there, I was really happy with it.”

“When he did happen to fall behind a couple guys [he] came back and made some big pitches,” Cash added. “Really encouraged. … [Littell] was so good throughout the spring. Felt like he carried it right into his first start, so impressed with him.”

He had plenty of support, too. Amed Rosario had an RBI single and a double -- plus a couple nice catches in right field -- in his first start with the Rays. Randy Arozarena homered in the fifth inning, stole two bases, scored three runs and signed a couple autographs for good measure. José Caballero drove in one run with a sacrifice fly and another on a seventh-inning bunt that led to both dugouts clearing.

But it all started with Littell, as unlikely as that thought may have seemed a year ago.

“Since we got him, I think he's done a really great job. Hopefully he can keep on doing that,” Arozarena said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “He's pitched well, and hopefully he can continue doing that until we get to the playoffs.”