Tampa Bay's Zack Littell 'A Little Sore' After 117-Pitch Outing; Ready to Go Friday

TAMPA, Fla. — Zack Littell was back in the Tampa Bay Rays' clubhouse on Tuesday, and his right arm was still attached.

Littell pitched the Rays' first complete game since 2021 on Saturday night in Houston, and he needed a career-high 117 pitches to do it. That's the most pitches thrown in a major-league game this year, and the most in a Rays complete game since David Price in 2013.

That was Littell's 12 start of the season, and he threw more than 90 pitches in only three others. He averaged 85.6 pitches per start

The morning after felt different, for sure.

"Yeah, it was definitely different. I hurt in some places where I don't normally hurt, and I think that was just because of the work load,'' Littell said. "We had the day game on Sunday, so we were back at the ballpark pretty early, and I had a lot of work done during the game. I usually feel it more 24 hours after a start than 12, so I was feeling it pretty good Sunday night and it was an uncomfortable flight home.''

Littell is a 29-year-old veteran who's in his eighth MLB season, so he knows the routine between starts. He said he'll be fine by Friday afternoon, when he makes his next scheduled start against the Miami Marlins. The Rays were off on Monday, so he'll get an extra day of rest.

"Yeah, that extra day will help. We always like those,'' Littell said. "I'm feeling good now and, to be honest, I felt really good all the way through that game, too. It was fun. It felt good to get a complete game because I guess it's been a long time.''

Ryan Yarbrough threw the last one on June 3, 2021 and it was just the fourth complete game during the 10-plus years of the Kevin Cash era in Tampa Bay. Matt Andriese had one in 2016 and Chris Archer accomplished the feat in 2015.

Littell said he thoroughly enjoyed the postgame celebration with his teammates, and appreciated Cash having the faith in him to complete the game.

"I know doesn't normally let us go that long, so it means a lot that he let me finish it.''

Does his 117 pitches signal a new high bar for Cash?

"I don't think I'd go that far,'' Littell said with a laugh. "I don't think we'll see that very often, but I'm glad we saw it at least once.''

Shane Baz, who is pitching Friday night, said he's ready to go 117 too. He loved watching Littell work his magic.

"We were all so excited for him. That was really cool to see,'' said Baz, who has topped out at 98 pitches this season. "That's the first one I've seen since I've been up here. That was cool. The veteran aspect for sure, it was just cool for him, and everybody was just super happy for him.

"I'll do it. I don't ever want to turn the ball over. I like the thought of 'this is my game' type of thing. And yeah, I'll pitch until they come and take it from me. If it called for that, I would do it.''