Rays prevail in rain-soaked marathon, climb back above .500

KANSAS CITY -- Zack Littell picked a perfect outing to be as efficient as possible.

A two-hour, 32-minute weather delay resulted in what felt like two games, and Tampa Bay showed off its strengths in each one.

Littell had one of his most efficient and productive outings of the season to continue the rotation’s dominant stretch before the offense turned it on after the downpour to power the Rays’ 5-1 win over the Royals on Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium.

The right-hander generated seven two-pitch outs to toss five scoreless frames before the storm reached the ballpark, cutting his outing short at 68 pitches, but Tampa Bay’s bullpen dealt four innings of one-run ball to seal the win at 1:09 a.m. ET.

“I was actually under the assumption that [the delay] was going to be a lot sooner than it came, so I was really happy to make it through five innings,” said Littell, who picked up his first win since May 11.

The seven-year veteran allowed a leadoff single to begin the game, but then faced the minimum (14 batters) until two outs in the fifth, when he gave up back-to-back singles. But with runners on the corners, Littell got Kyle Isbel to swing through a splitter in the dirt to end his outing with four punchouts -- right before the weather arrived and stopped the game.

It was the first time since his season debut on March 30 that Littell recorded a scoreless outing, and he did so by attacking the zone against an aggressive Royals squad. Littell only recorded eight whiffs, but kept Kansas City hitters off balance for 15 called strikes -- throwing just 19 balls.

“Lights-out. I mean, that’s the Littell we all know and love,” said reliever Jason Adam, who tossed a 1-2-3 eighth inning. “I wish we wouldn’t have had a rain delay, would have loved to see how far he could have gone, but he put us in a great position to win that game.”

Littell’s third win of the season put the Rays (43-42) a game over .500 for the first time since May 20, and now Tampa Bay will have two chances to extend its season-best series winning streak to five with a victory Wednesday or Thursday.

“They’re a team that in the last couple of weeks hasn’t done a lot of damage, so it’s one of those things where, ‘Here’s my stuff. If you’re going to beat me, you’re going to have to string together three, four, five hits in a row,’” Littell said. “As well as knowing that we’re playing pretty good baseball right now.”

With Littell’s scoreless outing, the Rays didn’t need much offensively, but got it after the halftime break. After scratching across one run off Royals starter Brady Singer on a wild pitch, Tampa Bay scored in three of the final four frames after play resumed.

“It was key, we've got to find ways to separate games, certainly late, and we did tonight with a bunch of good at-bats, big at-bats from different people,” manager Kevin Cash said. “[Isaac] Paredes, [Richie] Palacios came up with probably the biggest hits there after the delay.

Palacios, who went 3-for-4, lined a two-out RBI double in the sixth before Paredes smacked a two-run double in the seventh. And for good measure, Brandon Lowe clobbered a 433-foot blast in the ninth.

“... Obviously we had the 1-0 lead, but you want to add to that,” Adam said. “Our guys did a great job in the pouring rain to add a couple runs and then B-Lowe put the nail in the coffin with that huge home run. Then the relievers, everyone that went out there did their job. It was a great team win.”

Kevin Kelly, Colin Poche, Adam and Pete Fairbanks allowed just two hits to close it out. After sitting in the clubhouse waiting out a delay that lasted longer than the game itself (2:27), the bullpen was ready to seal Tampa Bay’s sixth win in its past eight games.

“I mean, honestly that’s kind of what the bullpen does every day,” Adam said. “We just sit around until our names are called, and then we go throw. That’s kind of what we’re built for.”

It was a marathon, and the rain returned in both the seventh and ninth innings, but with the way Littell threw -- and the way the Rays are playing -- there was no stopping the late-night clubhouse celebration.

“I will stay until midnight every night if we win the ballgame,” Adam said. “No complaints.”