ST. PETERSBURG -- Luis Patiño gave the Rays what they needed on Thursday night.

As Tampa Bay seeks opportunities to keep its top starters fresh, Patiño’s spot start gave the club an extra day of rest. After asking a lot of their bullpen the previous three nights at Yankee Stadium, he gave the Rays 5 2/3 innings. When a leadoff homer by Yandy Díaz was all they could muster before a five-run seventh, he gave them zeros on the scoreboard.

Above all, Patiño gave a glimpse of what he could offer as part of a stretch-run pitching staff with his performance in a 7-1 win over the Royals at Tropicana Field. The 22-year-old right-hander allowed only four singles and two walks to go with four strikeouts to earn his first win as a starter since last Aug. 30, as Tampa Bay secured its fifth win in the past six games.

This may have only been a cameo appearance, as Patiño could be optioned back to Triple-A Durham on Friday after being recalled on Thursday. But it was an encouraging one that just might deserve an encore later this season, whether he returns as a starter, a bulk-innings arm or a high-powered reliever like last September.

“He's a big, big weapon. If we can kind of bottle that up and see if we can continue to build off that, there's no doubt,” manager Kevin Cash said. “His last September and then in the postseason, he was as powerful as any pitcher in 2021. So if he can do that, get on that run again, he can really help us.”

After a couple uneven outings in his mid-July return from a three-month stint on the injured list due to a left oblique strain, Patiño reversed a handful of negative trends.

He pitched with confidence and pounded the strike zone, throwing 63 of his 86 pitches for strikes. That 73.3 percentage was a big jump from Patiño’s 61.7 mark in his last two big league appearances, and it started with him throwing first-pitch strikes to 17 of the 23 batters he faced.

Patiño’s swing-and-miss stuff returned, as he generated 16 whiffs from a Kansas City lineup that swung and missed on only four of his 72 pitches on July 23. His fastball topped out at 97.2 mph, as much velocity as he’s shown since his late-season move to the bullpen last year.

He mixed his pitches, too, sprinkling in 20 sliders and 18 changeups to keep hitters off his fastball. And he limited hard contact, as only four of the 17 balls the Royals put in play against him were classified as “hard-hit,” with an exit velocity of at least 95 mph, according to Statcast.

“He kept us off balance. He’s got good stuff,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “We just couldn’t really predict where he was going to go. He didn’t make a lot of mistakes.”

And his performance gave the Rays time to wake up after a crushing extra-innings defeat on Wednesday night followed by a 5 a.m. ET arrival from New York on Thursday morning. Eventually, they strung together six straight hits in the seventh -- including an infield single by Jose Siri made possible, in part, by Roman Quinn’s heads-up baserunning -- to break the game open.

“I think I was able to show them that I'm here to support the team all I can, to help them out as much as I can every outing out here,” Patiño said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “I want to be out here, and I can show them that I'm capable of doing that.”

Christian Bethancourt hadn’t been behind the plate for so much as a bullpen session with Patiño before Thursday. They’d played more video games together -- Fortnite, to be specific -- than baseball. But the backstop watched Patiño on video, studied his arsenal and talked to fellow catcher Francisco Mejía before developing a simple game plan.

“I just told him, 'Hey, let's just do it like we're playing video games. We're just going to attack hitters and throw strikes and act like you're playing catch with me,’” Bethancourt said. “He has his stuff, so he's got everything to be a great pitcher.”

On this night, he was everything the Rays needed.

“And then some,” Cash added. “I don't think it's fair to expect a guy to come in and shut down a Major League team, and he did. He was super efficient. … Really, really excited about Luis.”