A two-run blast by Manuel Margot in the bottom of the seventh inning was just the insurance that the Tampa Bay Rays needed to secure a victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL — I wish I was at the Trop tonight. I wish you were at the Trop tonight, too — along with 20 thousand other Rays fans! Unfortunately, we weren’t. Instead, I watched the game in my living room — sound on way too high — drinking a delicious Busch Light and admiring the sudden offense provided by Manuel Margot. If I can’t be there as a reporter, may as well act like a fan, am I right?
Snell’s pure dominance
Rays ace Blake Snell put his mark on this series in dominating fashion. Snell had a no hitter heading into the sixth inning, but a no-out single by Alejandro Kirk broke up his shot at history. Throwing only 82 pitches, Snell went 5.2 innings with 9 strikeouts. He allowed just one hit while walking two others.
“I felt good. It’s playoff baseball and you get super excited,” Snell said when asked about his outing. “Still things to work on. I pitched good enough to get with win. I’m happy about that. There’s still a couple walks there. There’s things I can do better.”
Blake Snell is the first left-handed pitcher to post 9+ Ks and 1/0 hits in a game in postseason history. pic.twitter.com/P0Uu2sLWjb
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) September 29, 2020
Pretty hard to get better than that, Blake!
Rays win another trade?
Boy does Randy Arozarena look like he can be a star in this league. In the fourth inning, Arozarena took a Robbie Ray fastball to the opposite field gap for a lead off triple. The triple had an exit velocity of 107.8 MPH. Just absolutely striped. He eventually scored on a wild pitch to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. He ended the day 1-for-4 with the aforementioned triple and run scored.
Unexpected power source
In 147 at-bats in 2020, Manuel Margot hit a total of ONE home run. In the seventh inning of a 1-0 game, Margot gave the Rays some much needed insurance.
Mar-š pic.twitter.com/Kr312ASS5q
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) September 29, 2020
Margot, a career .693 OPS hitter, gave the Rays a 3-0 lead after the homer — which turned out to be the game winning hit.
Just another timely hit for a player that the Rays just happen the get the most out of when they team needs it most.
Up Next
Game 2 is tomorrow at Tropicana Field as the Rays look to advance to the Division Series. First pitch is scheduled for 4:07 PM ET. Tyler Glasnow is set to take the mound squaring off against Hyun-Jin Ryu. The game can be seen on TBS.
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