BOSTON -- Ryan Pepiot could have been done for the night.
He had already thrown 91 pitches over five innings. The Rays were down a run. Pepiot was feeling under the weather, congested and hoarse.
But when Pepiot walked back into the dugout after the fifth inning Tuesday night at Fenway Park, he said he made it clear he wanted one more.
“I’m good,” Pepiot said. “Send me out there.”
In the end, Pepiot held the Red Sox to three runs over 5 2/3 innings. The Rays’ bats came up short in a 3-1 defeat, only their fifth loss in their past 20 games, but their starting pitching once again gave them a chance to win.
“No matter how I feel, I'm going to go out there,” said Pepiot, who struck out a season-high nine batters while throwing a career-high 108 pitches (72 strikes). “This team puts in so much effort. I just want to go out there and give my best for them and play for every single one of the guys in this room. No matter what, I'm taking the ball.”
That attitude has permeated through Tampa Bay’s rotation, producing what might be a stunning statistic to some. With more than 40% of the season in the books, the Rays lead the Majors in innings pitched by their starters.
Yes, the Rays -- pioneers of the opener, well-known for deploying deep and dominant bullpens -- are riding their rotation more than any team in baseball. Their starters have thrown 381 2/3 innings in 67 games, more than the Pirates (377 in 68 games), Royals (376 1/3 in 67) and Phillies (375 in 67).
Compare that to where the Rays ranked in starters’ innings each of the past seven seasons, working back from 2024: 23rd, 26th, 30th, 28th, 26th, 29th and 30th.
“I think that it's just a testament to all the guys who go out there and want to be guys who go deep into games,” starter Zack Littell said. “I'm not saying that there's starters out there that don't, but the group we have, I think, takes pride in being able to go out there and get six, seven, eight innings.”
The Rays have had only one start of at least eight innings this season: Littell’s 117-pitch complete game against the Astros on May 31. But the entire rotation has proven its durability, and the group has done it consistently.
The Rays summoned hard-throwing Joe Boyle from Triple-A Durham to make a spot start on April 13. Otherwise, with the 14th turn of the rotation underway, every game has been started by Pepiot, Littell, Taj Bradley, Drew Rasmussen or Shane Baz.
Aside from Rasmussen, whose innings are being monitored in his return to starting after a third major elbow surgery, they’ve all made at least one seven-inning start. They’ve combined to produce 37 starts of at least six innings, tied with the Phillies for the most in the Majors. And Tampa Bay’s starters have delivered at least five innings in an MLB-high 59 of their 67 outings.
They’re not just eating innings, either. During this 15-5 stretch dating back to May 20, Rays starters have pitched to a 2.62 ERA while allowing three runs or fewer in 19 of those games.
“They've been really good. I think that if there was reason for us to take them out of ballgames, we would do that. But, I mean, they make it pretty difficult,” manager Kevin Cash said recently. “It seems like they're navigating through their 90- to 100-plus pitches, whatever it is. They do it pretty efficiently, and they're getting deep into ballgames.”
It looked like Pepiot might be in for a shorter night, for instance, after he had to throw 29 pitches in a two-run first.
That inning could have been over sooner, even before top prospect Roman Anthony laced a way-outside changeup to left field for a two-run double, had someone caught the Rafael Devers fly ball that landed between center fielder Jake Mangum and right fielder Josh Lowe.
“I’ve got to have that. That’s on me,” Mangum said. “Pep pitched his butt off tonight.”
Pepiot kept his pitch count in check enough to work into the sixth, when he surrendered a two-out solo shot to Trevor Story that cleared the Green Monster.
That efficiency was in keeping with what he and his rotation mates have done all season. The Rays’ starters are averaging an MLB-low 15.24 pitches per inning this season. That would be the lowest in a season for any starting staff since the 2015 Mets (15.07) and Dodgers (15.15).
“Everybody likes to go out there, and I think if everybody could go nine every single time they went out, they would want to,” Littell said. “I think that's just a testament to those guys.”