This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ST. PETERSBURG  -- During the early days of the season, when the Rays wouldn’t stop winning games by at least four runs and high-leverage situations were hard to come by, Pete Fairbanks earned a nickname from his fellow Rays relievers: “Rarebanks.”

He’s seen a little more work since then, with three saves in his last five appearances. Seeing an opponent score against Fairbanks, though? That’s rare.

On Saturday, Fairbanks broke the franchise-record scoreless-innings streak previously held by reliever J.P. Howell, who went 27 1/3 innings without allowing a run between June 14-Aug. 30, 2012. The right-hander extended that record to 29 innings with a perfect frame in Sunday’s 4-1 win over the White Sox.

“I hadn't really thought about it,” Fairbanks said Saturday. “It's obviously something that is a fun little accomplishment.”

Fairbanks’ scoreless streak is the longest active run in the Majors and the longest by a reliever since the Yankees’ Clay Holmes went 31 1/3 innings without allowing a run from April 9-June 18, 2022, according to STATS LLC.

The streak has been going on so long, Fairbanks said he couldn’t remember when it began. It was last July 25, his third appearance of the year. After beginning the season on the injured list due to a strained lat muscle, he gave up three runs over his first two outings.

He hasn’t given up a run in 29 appearances since then.

During this stretch, Fairbanks has held opponents to a .124/.175/.124 slash line (12-for-97) with 41 strikeouts, six walks and a 0.62 WHIP. He hasn’t allowed an extra-base hit since last July 17. Nearly 40 percent of the hitters he’s faced have struck out over that period, and the majority of those who have managed to put the ball in play have hit it on the ground.

“The stuff is unbelievable, and so is the competitiveness,” Rays starter Drew Rasmussen said. “But I think the most impressive part is the consistency. … His ability to have his body prepared and his mind prepared every day is incredible. He's just reaping the reward of what he does, day in and day out.

“Thank God we paid that guy. It's unbelievable. … If we get to the ninth inning, we have the opportunity to win just about every game when he takes the mound.”

Fairbanks chalked up his success to a renewed emphasis on throwing strikes and credited pitching coach Kyle Snyder for helping him make adjustments whenever he gets out of whack. (In a fun coincidence, Snyder was teammates with Howell, the club’s previous scoreless-innings record-holder, during their time with the Royals.) Manager Kevin Cash called Fairbanks’ strike-throwing “elite” and remarkably consistent since his return from the IL last summer.

“Just go out there and really attack the zone,” Fairbanks said. “That has, I think, been first and foremost for the past two years now, and I don't really see it going anywhere.”

The combination of Fairbanks’ stuff and strike-throwing mentality is a better reason to call him “Rarebanks,” in Snyder’s view, as he called Fairbanks’ pitch mix “as unique an arsenal as there’s probably been in the last 10 years.” He throws his fastball with an elite combination of velocity (99 mph, on average, last season) and vertical movement. His slider moves like an 85-87 mph curveball.

“It's a pretty tough matchup,” Snyder said.

Hitters would certainly agree.