TAMPA -- Zack Littell said he didn’t feel anything unusual after pitching the Rays’ first complete game in four years last Saturday in Houston.

And he definitely looked like himself in his return to the mound Friday afternoon.

Littell held the Marlins to just one run over six efficient innings in the Rays’ series-opening 4-3 win at George M. Steinbrenner Field. After throwing 117 pitches over nine innings against the Astros, the right-hander breezed through his 72-pitch outing while permitting only six hits and striking out four.

The lone run Littell allowed came on an Augustín Ramírez homer in the fourth inning. The Rays have won each of his last eight starts after dropping each of his first five, and he has gone 6-0 with a 2.79 ERA during that stretch. Their starting pitching ha

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