If you were to go back to May 9 of last year and tell people around the Red Sox that one of the best pitchers’ duels of 2024 would be between Brayan Bello and Zack Littell, you would have surely been met with some puzzled expressions.

It also might have made a few people rethink letting Littell go, which at the very least would have made the lineup’s job a lot easier Thursday night.

The former Red Sox right-hander, who pitched two games for Boston last May before being picked up off the scrap heap by Tampa Bay, completely dominated Boston’s slumping offense in the Rays’ eventual 2-0 win. Littell retired 21 of the 22 batters he faced over seven shutout innings, allowing only a second inning single to Nick Sogard while striking out seven.

Sogard wound up being the only baserunner the Red Sox got all game, and the only reason the Red Sox had any chance was because Bello and the pitching staff were excellent too.

But the way Littell was throwing the ball, it just didn’t matter.

Even for Tampa Bay — an organization with a long track record of turning relative nobodies into impact arms — Littell has been a remarkable success story. Last season the journeyman right-hander spent about a week with the Red Sox before being designated for assignment, and since landing in Tampa Bay he’s emerged as one of the Rays’ best pitchers.

Previously a reliever, Littell shifted to the starting rotation midway through 2023 and this year came into the night with a 3.73 ERA over 144.2 innings. He may as well have been Nolan Ryan on Thursday, mowing the Red Sox down with ease throughout his seven dominant innings.

Offensively the Rays didn’t exactly light things up at Tropicana Field, but what little they managed was enough. Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead in the third on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Lowe, and in the seventh the Rays scored on a groundout by Dylan Carlson, capitalizing on an error by Danny Jansen that allowed Taylor Walls to reach third on a stolen base attempt.

That was all it took, and now the Red Sox return to Fenway Park a game under .500 with nine games to play.