Littell blanks Cleveland for 6 innings, rookie Driscoll hits first homer as Rays top Guardians 3-1

CLEVELAND (AP) — Zack Littell shut down Cleveland for six innings and rookie Logan Driscoll hit his first career homer, a two-run shot, sending the Tampa Bay Rays to a 3-1 win over the AL Central-leading Guardians on Friday night.

Littell (7-9) allowed just two hits in his second straight strong start. He blanked Baltimore for five innings last week and has thrown 13 consecutive scoreless frames. The right-hander is 4-0 in his career against the Guardians.

Littell's performance followed Tampa Bay's bullpen shutting out Cleveland over the final seven innings in Thursday's series opener.

“We downplayed it a little but we needed a strong outing from the starter and he certainty provided that,” manager Kevin Cash said of Littell, who retired his final 11 batters. "He had to get the off-speed pitches going and he did, and got deep in the ballgame for us.”

The Guardians didn't score until the eighth, when rookie Jhonkensy Noel and David Fry hit back-to-back doubles off Mason Montgomery. Fry's shot to left missed being a two-run homer by inches.

Cash brought in Edwin Uceta, returning from his two-game suspension for throwing at Philadelphia’s Nick Castellanos, to get two outs in the eighth. Uceta then worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save.

“He’s done that every outing but one,” Cash said. "He’s really set the bar high for himself. We’re fortunate to have him and some other young pitchers. They’re getting some good reps in this type of atmosphere on this trip.”

Cleveland's loss coupled with Kansas City's win reduced the Guardians' division lead to three games. The Guardians are 1-4 against the Rays.

“This Tampa team knows how to pitch,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us the next two days.”

Cleveland played without All-Star left fielder Steven Kwan, who was scratched with back soreness.

Driscoll connected in the third inning off Tanner Bibee (11-8), who had an up-and-down outing. Bibee gave up two homers and finished with nine strikeouts after striking out the side in two innings.

Jonathan Aranda also homered for the Rays, who are facing three division leaders — Baltimore, Philadelphia and Cleveland — and are 4-4 on a 10-game trip.

“For us, it’s win every game right now, but this road trip has been circled all year,” Littell said. "We've done a really nice job. We got swept in Philly, but every game we were in and it just kind of didn’t go our way.”

Driscoll's shot into the right-field seats in the second came moments after Jose Siri narrowly missed a homer with a blast to center field that hit the yellow line marking the top of the wall.

With Siri on third following a triple, Driscoll, who drove in the winning run in his MLB debut on Sept. 3, homered. He received a warm welcome in Tampa Bay's dugout as the Rays raised their arms to form a tunnel for him to run through.

“It was one of those things where you don’t really realize what happened in the moment until the game ended and I was able to kind of process things,” Driscoll said, who got the souvenir ball, trading a signed bat with a fan.

“I’ve got find a spot for it,” he said. “That's for sure.”

TRAINER'S ROOM

Rays: LF Christoper Morel was replaced in the third inning with right Achilles tendon discomfort. Morel accidentally got stepped on by Cleveland's Brayan Rocchio on Thursday night and appeared to be favoring his foot on two plays in the field. Cash said he'll like get Saturday off.

Guardians: RHP Ben Lively (bruised thigh) threw a bullpen session and is on track to start Sunday's series finale. Lively was lucky to not be more seriously hurt after being hit with a line drive in Chicago.

UP NEXT

Guardians rookie LHP Joey Cantillo (1-3, 5.96 ERA) starts Saturday in his first game since taking a perfect game into the seventh inning against the White Sox. The Rays will start Drew Rasmussen in a bullpen game.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Tampa Bay Rays catcher Logan Driscoll, left, celebrates with relief pitcher Edwin Uceta, right, after they defeated the Cleveland Guardians in a baseball game Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Tampa Bay Rays' Edwin Uceta pitches in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Tampa Bay Rays catcher Logan Driscoll, left, celebrates with relief pitcher Edwin Uceta, right, after they defeated the Cleveland Guardians in a baseball game Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Tampa Bay Rays' Jose Caballero reacts after a called second strike in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Cleveland. Caballero struck out in the at-bat. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Tampa Bay Rays' Jose Siri tosses his bat after striking out in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Cleveland. Guardians catcher Bo Naylor is at left. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez, left, gestures after tagging out Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe (8) in the fifth inning of a baseball game, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Guardians right fielder Jhonkensy Noel catches a fly ball hit for an out against Tampa Bay Rays' Jonathan Aranda in the second inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Tampa Bay Rays' Jose Caballero walks back to the dugout after striking out in the second inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez, right, slides safely into second base under the tag of Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Jose Caballero, left, inning of a baseball game, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez, left, tags out Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe (8) in the fifth inning of a baseball game, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Tampa Bay Rays' Logan Driscoll, right, is congratulated by teammate Jose Siri (22) after hitting a home run in the third inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Tampa Bay Rays' Zack LIttell pitches in the first inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

NEW YORK (AP) — In what appears to be a sophisticated, remote attack, pagers used by hundreds of members of Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria Tuesday, killing at least nine people — including an 8-year-old girl — and wounding thousands more.

A U.S. official said Israel briefed the U.S. on the operation — in which small amounts of explosive secreted in the pagers were detonated — on Tuesday after it was concluded. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the information publicly.

The Iran-backed militant group blamed Israel for the deadly explosions, which targeted an extraordinary breadth of people and showed signs of being a long-planned operation. Details on how the attack was executed are largely uncertain and investigators have not immediately said how the pagers were detonated. The Israeli military has declined to comment.

Here's what we know so far.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones, saying they could be used by Israel to track the group's movements. As a result, the organization uses pagers to communicate.

A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press the exploded devices were from a new brand the group had not used before. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press, did not identify the brand name or supplier.

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday it had authorized use of its brand on the AR-924 pager model and a Budapest, Hungary-based company called BAC Consulting produced and sold the pagers. Further information on BAC wasn't immediately available.

Nicholas Reese, adjunct instructor at the Center for Global Affairs in New York University’s School of Professional Studies, explains smart phones carry a higher risk for intercepted communications in contrast to the simpler technology of pagers.

This type of attack will also force Hezbollah to change their communication strategies, said Reese, who previously worked as an intelligence officer, adding that survivors of Tuesday's explosions are likely to throw away "not just their pagers, but their phones, and leaving their tablets or any other electronic devices.”

Even with a U.S. official confirming it was a planned operation by Israel, multiple theories have emerged Tuesday around how the attack might have been carried out. Several experts who spoke with The Associated Press explained how the explosions were most likely the result of supply-chain interference.

Very small explosive devices may have been built into the pagers prior to their delivery to Hezbollah, and then all remotely triggered simultaneously, possibly with a radio signal.

By the time of the attack, “the battery was probably half-explosive and half-actual battery," said Carlos Perez, director of security intelligence at TrustedSec.

A former British Army bomb disposal officer explained that an explosive device has five main components: A container, a battery, a triggering device, a detonator and an explosive charge.

“A pager has three of those already,” explained the ex-officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he now works as a consultant with clients on the Middle East. “You would only need to add the detonator and the charge.”

After security camera footage appeared on social media Tuesday purporting to show one of the pagers explode on a man’s hip in a Lebanese market, two munitions experts offered opinions that corroborate the U.S. official's statement that the blast appeared to be the result of a tiny explosive device.

“Looking at the video, the size of the detonation is similar to that caused by an electric detonator alone or one that incorporates an extremely small, high-explosive charge,” said Sean Moorhouse, a former British Army officer and explosive ordinance disposal expert.

This signals involvement of a state actor, Moorhouse said. He adds that Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, is the most obvious suspect to have the resources to carry out such an attack.

N.R. Jenzen-Jones, an expert in military arms who is director of the Australian-based Armament Research Services, notes that Israel had been accused of carrying out similar operations in the past. Last year, AP reported that Iran accused Israel of trying to sabotage its ballistic missile program through faulty foreign parts that could explode, damaging or destroying the weapons before they could be used.

It would take a long time to plan an attack of this scale. The exact specifics are still unknown, but experts who spoke with the AP shared estimates ranging anywhere between several months to two years.

The sophistication of the attack suggests that the culprit has been collecting intelligence for a long time, Reese explained. An attack of this caliber requires building the relationships needed to gain physical access to the pagers before they were sold; developing the technology that would be embedded in the devices; and developing sources who can confirm that the targets were carrying the pagers.

And it's likely the compromised pagers seemed normal to their users for some time before the attack. Elijah J. Magnier, a Brussels-based veteran and a senior political risk analyst with over 37 years experience in the region, said he has had conversations with members of Hezbollah and survivors of Tuesday's pager attack. He said the pagers were procured more than six months ago.

“The pagers functioned perfectly for six months," Magnier said. What triggered the explosion, he said, appeared to be an error message sent to all the devices.

Based on his conversations with Hezbollah members, Magnier also said that many pagers didn’t go off, allowing the group to inspect them. They came to the conclusion that between 3 to 5 grams of a highly explosive material were concealed or embedded in the circuitry, he said.

Jenzen-Jones also adds that “such a large-scale operation also raises questions of targeting" — stressing the number of causalities and enormous impact reported so far.

“How can the party initiating the explosive be sure that a target’s child, for example, is not playing with the pager at the time it functions?” he said.

Hezbollah issued a statement confirming at least two members were killed in the bombings. One of them was the son of a Hezbollah member in parliament, according to the Hezbollah official who spoke anonymously. The group later issued announcements that six other members were killed Tuesday, though it did not specify how.

“We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression that also targeted civilians,” Hezbollah said, adding that Israel will “for sure get its just punishment.”

Associated Press journalist Johnson Lai in Taipei

People donate blood for those who were injured by their exploded handheld pagers, at a Red Cross center, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)