Rays snap skid behind Snell’s 8th win of the year.
Heading into his start against the Mariners today, a very fair case can be made that LHP Blake Snell should get plenty of Cy Young attention to this point in the season. The Mariners know that all too well. In Snell’s last start in Seattle last Sunday, he struck out 12 Seattle hitters in six innings. He also allowed no runs on just two hits in that outing.
Saturday, Snell would look to keep his dominant season going as he faced Seattle for the second consecutive start.
Rocky start, epic rebound
The ballgame didn’t start exactly how Snell or the Rays wanted. The Mariners took a quick 1-0 lead off the lefty in the first thanks to an error by rookie first baseman, Jake Bauers. He overthrew first after Snell wasn’t quick to cover on a high chopper past the mound. The run would eventually come around to score.
“Man it feels good,” Bauers said after the game on his first big league hit. “I feel about 45 lbs lighter to be honest with you. To find the gap, see that ball hit the ground, I don’t think I’ve seen a more beautiful thing in my life.”
Before the game, manager Kevin Cash talked about getting early leads. The Rays answered back thanks to back to back doubles by Bauers and Matt Duffy. It was the first career hit for Bauers and he would also score his first MLB run to tie the game off Duffy’s double.
Is it “ugly” if you score?
In what would turn out to be an “ugly” multi-run inning for the Rays in the bottom of the second, Rob Refsnyder would start the scoring. With Mallex Smith at second, Refsnyder would drop an RBI single between three Mariners defenders. Mallex broke on the pitch and had to stop almost all the way to third, then start back to second, then hustle home as Christian Arroyo was baring down on him all the way from first. Jesus Sucre would ground out driving home Arroyo. Daniel Robertson would complete the scoring grounding out to score Refsnyder to make it a 4-1 lead over Felix Hernandez.
The Rays would tack on two more in the third. It seemed as if Mallex Smith had his his first home run of the season and just sixth of his major league career. However the two-run, two-out blast would be called an RBI triple putting the Rays up 5-1. Arroyo would single home Mallex on the next at-bat giving the Rays a two-run inning anyway.
Up 6-1 in the top of the fifth, Snell would give up a solo home run to Nelson Cruz, his 12th, to pull the Mariners within a slam.
Rookie RHP Diego Castillo would take over for Snell in the seventh. The young righty would struggle to find any command throwing nine of his first 14 pitches outside the strike zone with two wild pitches. Kyle Seager would cut the Rays lead in half with an RBI ground out off Castillo. It would take a spectacular catch in foul territory by Carlos Gomez who got tangled up with Bauers to end the inning with no more damage done.
Same team, Dwight! pic.twitter.com/hUA9sQeVQY
— Tampa Bay Devil Rays (@RaysBaseball) June 9, 2018
“Very scary when it happened,” Cash said about the collision between Bauers and Gomez. “They were both really fortunate to be okay. Jake’s got some banged up ribs and Carlos’ shin but what a tremendous play.”
Joey Wendle would get the Rays back their four-run lead with a sac fly in the bottom of the seventh.
Roe slams the door
With two on in the top of the eighth and two away, RHP Chaz Roe would be called on to clean up a tight spot for Castillo and the Rays with a 7-3 lead. He would finish off the Mariners and notch the save and the victory. It would be the first career save for Roe.
Up next
The Rays send RHP Nathan Eovaldi (1-1, 3.27) to the hill for Sunday’s game. He’ll face off against Seattle’s LHP James Paxton (5-1, 2.95) to wrap up the three-game series.
