SARASOTA, Fla. -- Emilio Pagán was scheduled to pitch Tuesday against the Orioles, but he didn’t know he was going to start until he arrived at the Rays' facility in the morning.

Ryan Merritt was originally scheduled to start, but the Rays decided to make the switch in the morning. Pagan said that despite the switch, he felt comfortable on the mound. He did, however, say that his routine could change a bit when he starts at home as opposed to on the road. He’ll seek guidance from other Rays pitchers who have been asked to open games.

“It felt good,” Pagan said. “Good to get back out there. My body felt fine physically, so it was fun to compete.”

Pagan pitched the first two innings of the Rays’ 11-5 rain-shortened, eight-inning win and got mixed results. The right-hander gave up two earned runs on four hits but struck out two.

Working on another offspeed pitch that will help neutralize left-handed hitters is the priority this spring for the 27-year-old. Last season, right-handers batted .196 against Pagan, while left-handers were significantly better at .296.

Because of the splits, Pagan made it a priority to add another offspeed pitch to his arsenal. On Tuesday, both his strikeouts came on a curveball against left-handers.

“Two strikeouts to the lefties, so that was a good sign,” Pagan said. “Curveball was better today than it was in the first outing. I still spiked a couple of them pretty bad, but other than that I was happy to see that I got some bad takes on it.”

Pagan is competing for a bullpen spot. The Rays acquired him from Oakland in the offseason, and he’ll get plenty of looks over the next couple of weeks. Right now, his focus remains on working on his new pitches instead of the results.

“Obviously I don’t want to give up two runs every time I pitch,” Pagan said. “But at the same time, pitch development-wise, there’s some stuff that goes into that to get ready into a season. You start to understand that the more you’re around. The hitters will show you if you’re ready or not. The results don’t always show if you’re physically ready to compete at the big league level.”

Overall, manager Kevin Cash has been impressed with what he has seen from Pagan this spring.

“He’s looked good the whole time,” Cash said. “Very crisp.”

Other notables

Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier returned to the lineup after missing a couple of games due to a bad blister on his left heel. Kiermaier is scheduled to play center field again Wednesday against the Red Sox in Port Charlotte.

The Rays put together a 10-run eighth inning against the Orioles, highlighted by a go-ahead three-run home run by Jesus Sanchez, their No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline. Christian Arroyo went back-to-back with Sanchez, while No. 13 prospect Nate Lowe hit a two-run double in the inning. No. 9 prospect Lucius Fox went 2-for-2.

“We have some young guys that can hit the ball really, really hard,” Cash said.

Diego Castillo, Merritt and Jalen Beeks all pitched a scoreless inning.