ST. PETERSBURG — With Xavier Cedeno on the disabled list, the Rays began Saturday as the only team in the majors without a lefty reliever.
They sent out a starter, Blake Snell, who abandoned his windup to pitch exclusively out of the stretch in simplifying his delivery yet pitched himself out of the game by walking five.
They watched their bullpen get even more shorthanded when Tommy Hunter hobbled off the field in the sixth with a calf strain.
They saw Gold Glove centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier finally succumb to a wicked illness that sapped his strength and, after striking out three times on three pitches each, leave the game.
They gave away a run by forgetting about speedy Jose Altuve, who scored from second on an infield out.
And then they won anyway.
In another show of their impressive mettle and rousing resolve, the Rays (10-9) overcame all of that, as well as the majors-best Astros, in rolling to a 6-3 win.
"A testament to the guys in the clubhouse," first baseman Logan Morrison said. "A down-but-not-out type deal."
Of their 10 wins, this was the AL-most-matching seventh in which the Rays came from behind, an encouraging sign.
"It's a resilient group, and guys just want to go out there and win and do their job," said veteran outfielder Peter Bourjos, who played on the Cardinals' 2014-15 division championship teams. "That's how it felt like in St. Louis, even when things weren't going our way, we always found a way to win. Maybe we weren't playing our best or guys were sick or hurt, but we'd figure out a way to win. So far this season I feel like we've been able to do that.
"And that's a good trait to have as a team."
Evan Longoria got the Rays' first big hit, a two-run double in the fifth that made it 2-2. After Altuve's heads-up play — "Nobody was looking at me," he said — the Rays were down again in the sixth.
But they loaded the bases and scored four, with key hits by Derek Norris (snapping an 0-for-11), Shane Peterson (a bouncer that went their way), Tim Beckham (his third of the night), then Bourjos, who stepped in for Kiermaier and rolled a single through A.J. Hinch's drawn-in infield. Rookie Austin Pruitt retired all seven batters for his second win in four days.
"Really impressed with the way the guys stayed at it and did a tremendous job," manager Kevin Cash said.
Snell first switched to the stretch during his last start in Boston and did so exclusively Saturday, saying "I just felt comfortable in it so I wanted to do it, thought it gave me the best chance to throw strikes."
Not the case, as he walked five (three on four pitches) and threw 39 strikes in 87 pitches, two of them home runs. "Kind of a head-scratching outing," Cash said.
Snell, though, insisted: "I'm going to get it done."
After losing Cedeno for what will be at least a couple of months due to forearm tightness, the Rays decided, for now, that their bullpen will be all right with just right-handers, though by the end of the night it looked like Hunter won't be among them.
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Explore all your optionsWhat that means is, expect to see a lot of righty Danny Farquhar and hope he has the good changeup to get out some tough lefties, such as Chris Davis, who will be waiting when the Rays get to Baltimore tonight.
"It's not ideal obviously," pitching coach Jim Hickey said.
How does a major-league team get in that position?
It takes some work. Primarily because in taking aim to improve the overall depth of their roster this winter, they neglected the lefty side of the bullpen.
Once they gave up on the Dana Eveland experience during spring training, they were left with only Cedeno in the majors, Justin Marks at Triple A (then adding Adam Kolarek) and raw prospect Jose Alvarado (who is on the 40-man roster) at Double A.
The Rays were last without a lefty reliever in April 2015 before they acquired a guy named Xavier Cedeno, who had been dumped by the Nationals and Dodgers.
They'll need to be as resourceful, or as fortunate, again. Otherwise, a lot of hard work could go to waste.