Zack Littell's gem backed by pair of early HRs as Rays top Guardians

Field Level Media|published: Fri 13th September, 22:02 2024

MLB: Tampa Bay Rays at Cleveland Guardians

Sep 13, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Zack Littell (52) delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images

Zack Littell allowed just two hits over six scoreless innings, Logan Driscoll clubbed his first career home run and Jonathan Aranda also went deep as the visiting Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-1 on Friday night.

Littell (7-9) yielded only a first-inning double to Jose Ramirez and a triple to Jhonkensy Noel in the second. The right-hander, who didn't give up a run in five innings on Sunday at Baltimore, also struck out five without a walk to extend his scoreless-inning streak to 13 for the Rays (73-75), who have won the first two of this four-game set after losing all three games at Philadelphia earlier this week.

Cleveland's Tanner Bibee (11-8) allowed all three runs on those two Tampa Bay homers, finishing with eight hit allowed while fanning nine in six innings. David Fry's RBI double, which hit the top of the 19-foot-high left-field wall in the eighth inning, provided the only scoring for the AL Central-leading Guardians (84-64), who have totaled three runs and nine hits through the first two games of this set.

Tampa Bay opened the scoring in the third when it began the frame with four consecutive hits against Bibee. After Jose Siri just missed clearing the center-field wall for a leadoff triple, Driscoll sent a no-doubt shot into the right-field seats for his milestone home run and a 2-0 Rays lead.

Rays teammate Christopher Morel flipped a single to right later in the inning, then immediately exited with right Achilles discomfort, according to the team.

An inning later, Aranda smacked a Bibee pitch into the front row of those right-field seats for a 3-0 Tampa Bay edge.

Rays relievers Kevin Kelly, Mason Montgomery and Edwin Uceta (three saves), who pitched 1 2/3 innings, combined to yield two hits and the only Cleveland run.

Siri had two hits for Tampa Bay, which clinched the season series against the Guardians by improving to 4-1 against them in 2024.

Noel, meanwhile, recorded half of Cleveland's four hits.

--Field Level Media