CLEVELAND (AP) — Zack Littell shut down Cleveland for six innings and rookie Logan Driscoll hit his first career homer, a two-run shot, sending the Tampa Bay Rays to a 3-1 win over the AL Central-leading Guardians on Friday night.
Littell (7-9) allowed just two hits in his second straight strong start. He blanked Baltimore for five innings last week and has thrown 13 consecutive scoreless frames. The right-hander is 4-0 in his career against the Guardians.
Littell's performance followed Tampa Bay's bullpen shutting out Cleveland over the final seven innings in Thursday's series opener.
“We downplayed it a little but we needed a strong outing from the starter and he certainty provided that,” manager Kevin Cash said of Littell, who retired his final 11 batters. "He had to get the off-speed pitches going and he did, and got deep in the ballgame for us.”
The Guardians didn't score until the eighth, when rookie Jhonkensy Noel and David Fry hit back-to-back doubles off Mason Montgomery. Fry's shot to left missed being a two-run homer by inches.
Cash brought in Edwin Uceta, returning from his two-game suspension for throwing at Philadelphia’s Nick Castellanos, to get two outs in the eighth. Uceta then worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save.
“He’s done that every outing but one,” Cash said. "He’s really set the bar high for himself. We’re fortunate to have him and some other young pitchers. They’re getting some good reps in this type of atmosphere on this trip.”
Cleveland's loss coupled with Kansas City's win reduced the Guardians' division lead to three games. The Guardians are 1-4 against the Rays.
“This Tampa team knows how to pitch,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us the next two days.”
Cleveland played without All-Star left fielder Steven Kwan, who was scratched with back soreness.
Driscoll connected in the third inning off Tanner Bibee (11-8), who had an up-and-down outing. Bibee gave up two homers and finished with nine strikeouts after striking out the side in two innings.
Jonathan Aranda also homered for the Rays, who are facing three division leaders — Baltimore, Philadelphia and Cleveland — and are 4-4 on a 10-game trip.
“For us, it’s win every game right now, but this road trip has been circled all year,” Littell said. "We've done a really nice job. We got swept in Philly, but every game we were in and it just kind of didn’t go our way.”
Driscoll's shot into the right-field seats in the second came moments after Jose Siri narrowly missed a homer with a blast to center field that hit the yellow line marking the top of the wall.
With Siri on third following a triple, Driscoll, who drove in the winning run in his MLB debut on Sept. 3, homered. He received a warm welcome in Tampa Bay's dugout as the Rays raised their arms to form a tunnel for him to run through.
“It was one of those things where you don’t really realize what happened in the moment until the game ended and I was able to kind of process things,” Driscoll said, who got the souvenir ball, trading a signed bat with a fan.
“I’ve got find a spot for it,” he said. “That's for sure.”
Rays: LF Christoper Morel was replaced in the third inning with right Achilles tendon discomfort. Morel accidentally got stepped on by Cleveland's Brayan Rocchio on Thursday night and appeared to be favoring his foot on two plays in the field. Cash said he'll like get Saturday off.
Guardians: RHP Ben Lively (bruised thigh) threw a bullpen session and is on track to start Sunday's series finale. Lively was lucky to not be more seriously hurt after being hit with a line drive in Chicago.
Guardians rookie LHP Joey Cantillo (1-3, 5.96 ERA) starts Saturday in his first game since taking a perfect game into the seventh inning against the White Sox. The Rays will start Drew Rasmussen in a bullpen game.