Pitchers, rookie Roman Anthony take spotlight as Rays, Red Sox meet

The Tampa Bay Rays will look to win a ninth consecutive Zack Littell start in the rubber game of a three-game road series against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night.

After dropping his first five outings of the season, Littell (6-5, 3.68 ERA) has not lost in eight since, going 6-0 with a 2.79 ERA in that span.

Following a May 31 complete game against the Houston Astros, the right-hander held the Miami Marlins to one run on six hits in six innings in his most recent start last Friday, a 4-3 win. He has nine quality starts for the season.

Littell has been just one keeper of a trend of excellent starting pitching for the Rays, who have allowed more than three earned runs just twice in their past 18 games. He will follow Ryan Pepiot, who worked 5 2/3 innings but was on the wrong end of a 3-1 Tuesday decision.

"It seems like every start we get, we're in the ballgame. More times than not, they're leaving the ballgame with an opportunity to get the win," Rays manager Kevin Cash said of his rotation after Littell's most recent start. "They've been really good, and the bullpen for the most part has been pretty lockdown as well."

Monday marked just the fifth loss in the Rays' past 20 games. They were held to three hits by Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito and two relievers.

Littell is 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA in four career starts (five total appearances) against Boston. The lone loss was on April 16 in a 1-0 game in which he gave up one run in six innings.

The Red Sox are looking to build on a feel-good Tuesday win in which baseball's top prospect, Roman Anthony, knocked a two-run double for his first major league hit in the first inning of his second career game. Trevor Story added an insurance solo homer in the sixth en route to his fourth straight multi-hit effort.

Story is 9-for-19 (.474) with two homers and eight RBIs in the past four games.

Above all, Giolito's six-inning, three-hit outing was just what manager Alex Cora wanted from his starter.

"We needed that. We were very thin in the bullpen," Cora said of Giolito's performance. "To be up 2-0, knowing where we were pitching-wise, it meant a lot."

The Red Sox recalled Anthony and right-hander Brian Van Belle from Triple-A Worcester before the series began on Monday. Van Belle has yet to debut.

The scheduled Red Sox starter for Wednesday, right-hander Walker Buehler (4-4, 5.18 ERA), has not won since being activated from the injured list on May 20 and is coming off throwing just two innings Friday in a series-opening 9-6 loss to the New York Yankees. He allowed seven runs (five earned) on seven hits, including a pair of home runs in a five-run first inning.

It has been a disappointing beginning to Buehler's Boston career. He signed a one-year, $21.05 million contract in the offseason after contributing to a World Series championship for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"This organization put a lot of faith in me this offseason, and I've been (expletive) embarrassing for us," Buehler said.

Buehler made his first and only career start against Tampa Bay on April 15. He earned the 7-4 win after dealing a solid five innings, allowing just two runs and three hits.