
Saturday, 4 a.m.
It was bound to happen.
Finally, the Tampa Bay Rays had a starting pitcher who was less than stellar.
The Rays dropped a 5-2 game to the Texas Rangers Friday night in their first road game of the season. Along the way, Zack Littell had a tough go of it.
In seven innings, Littell gave up six hits and five runs. His outing came after all five of the Rays starters had impressive first games.
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Most of the damage came in the third inning when the Rangers opened the inning with five straight hits and a sacrifice fly to account for four of their runs. Littell hadn’t given up a hit going into the inning and only one afterward, a home run by Josh Smith.
Tampa Bay scored twice in the eighth, both on wild pitches. Brandon Lowe had two of the Rays’ six hits.
The Rays play the Rangers tonight at 7:05 p.m. Taj Bradley will start for the Rays against Jacob deGrom.