ST. PETERSBURG -- When Wander Franco made his Major League debut on June 22, Taylor Walls was the Rays’ shortstop. Walls remained at shortstop, with Franco spending more time at third base and even getting one start at second base, until Walls was optioned to Triple-A Durham on July 24.

Walls rejoined the Rays on Wednesday afternoon, coming up from Durham alongside veteran reliever David Robertson as active rosters expanded from 26 to 28 players. This time, though, it’s Franco who is sticking at shortstop.

Walls immediately returned to the lineup to begin his second stint with Tampa Bay, getting the start at second base and batting ninth against Boston ace Chris Sale at Tropicana Field. And the hot-hitting Franco started at shortstop, like he’s done in each of his last 33 games. Walls will bounce around the infield, spending time at second and third and likely starting at shortstop on the 20-year-old Franco’s rare days off.

“Still view him very much as a shortstop,” manager Kevin Cash said of Walls. “Given what's taken place here over the last month to six weeks with Wander, we haven't asked Wander to take a ground ball at third. Want to just kind of keep him there [at shortstop]. We'll see how it evolves over the next week or so.”

Walls lived up to the prospect hype as an elite defensive shortstop in his first stint with the Rays, totaling nine Defensive Runs Saved in only 38 games. Rays left-hander Shane McClanahan said he believes Walls, whenever he plays his first full season, will emerge as the Majors’ No. 1 defensive shortstop. Asked about his confidence in Walls’ defense at second base, Cash simply responded: “With the game on the line, we want the ball hit to him. That’s how confident we are.”

But Walls understands the historic run Franco is on -- and is “not surprised one bit” by it, he said -- and he is fully prepared to spend more time at second and third. He only played shortstop in the Majors, but he moved around the infield a little more in Triple-A with seven starts at second and four at third along with 32 games at shortstop. Walls also fielded pregame ground balls at all three spots and said he’s comfortable at each position.

“However they think they can get the best nine players on the field at one time -- whether that's me at short, Wander at short, wherever I need to be -- I'm just trying to put our team in the best position to win,” Walls said. “If that's me taking more reps in second base, third base or wherever it may be, I'm going to do it. I'm going to try to be the best second baseman that I can be, the best shortstop when I'm there. So just doing what I can to try to help the team win.”

Walls is a perfectionist in the field, someone who takes the few mistakes he makes so seriously that he says they “haunt me at night.” He also put in a lot of work at the plate during his time in Durham, working to clean up his swing after noticing that he was late on big league fastballs and refining his two-strike approach. Walls’ .212/.315/.327 slash line with the Rays earlier this season may not look like much, but they were pleased overall with the quality of the 25-year-old switch-hitter’s at-bats.

“We’ve just been really fortunate with a lot of the young players that have come up here,” Cash said. “They've kind of had a pretty seamless transition, and we felt that Taylor did the exact same thing when he was here.”

Around the horn
• Robertson was immediately thrust into a big spot for the Rays, entering Wednesday night’s game in the eighth inning with the scored tied at 2. And the longtime high-leverage reliever looked like himself, striking out two in a scoreless inning in his first Major League appearance since April 14, 2019.

“That was really encouraging, as bright as any spot today,” Cash said after the Rays’ 3-2 loss. “He just looked like himself, just the guy that I think we all remember of him being that dominant reliever. I think he enjoyed himself, and it was really nice to see just the command of the pitches. The stuff looked identical.”

• Robertson became the 56th different player used by the Rays this season, one shy of matching the franchise record set in 2019. Tampa Bay has now used 34 different pitchers, excluding position players who’ve taken the mound, to surpass the previous club record of 31 also set two years ago.

• The Rays are sticking with a six-man rotation for at least one more turn. After starting Luis Patiño on Monday, Ryan Yarbrough on Tuesday and Drew Rasmussen on Wednesday, the Rays will turn to McClanahan against the Red Sox on Thursday before Michael Wacha, Chris Archer and Patiño take the mound against the Twins this weekend.