Snell strikes out 12 in 6 innings as the Padres blank the Rays
SAN DIEGO — Blake Snell struck out 12 over six dominant innings towards his former workforce to guide the San Diego Padres previous the Tampa Bay Rays 2-0 on Saturday.
“A little bit of a hybrid curve. He threw some sliders today, another good day for his changeup — it was a little bit of a different mix,” Padres supervisor Bob Melvin mentioned. “The fastball command really sets everything else up.”
Juan Soto hit a sacrifice fly within the fifth and Manny Machado drove in a run with an infield single after the Padres opened the inning with three consecutive bunts.
Snell (3-6) additionally fanned 12 in his earlier begin, a no-decision towards Colorado. He combined his pitches masterfully versus the key league-leading Rays, getting 4 strikeouts on fastballs, 4 on sliders, three on curveballs and one on a changeup.
“That was a really strong outing. He had everything going,” Rays supervisor Kevin Cash mentioned. “From the first inning, just his stuff and the strike-throwing, you kind of had that feeling like, uh-oh. He backed it up for his six innings of work.”
Snell got here up within the Rays group and pitched for them for 5 years, successful the AL Cy Young Award in 2018 earlier than being traded to the Padres previous to the 2021 season.
“A lot of emotions, for sure,” Snell mentioned. “A lot of those guys were with me the day I walked in the door as a professional. … Pitching in front of them was everything for me.”
The left-hander gave up simply two hits, walked three and labored out of jams with a number of runners on base within the fourth and fifth. He struck out six of his first eight batters.
“There are times when the pitcher is pitching very well and you can’t get a hit off him,” Rays leadoff batter Yandy Díaz mentioned via an interpreter. “(His fastball) was very hard to hit today.”
Steven Wilson and Nick Martinez every pitched an ideal inning earlier than Josh Hader labored the ninth for his seventeenth save. Hader gave up an infield single to Taylor Walls with two outs, then whiffed Manuel Margot to complete the three-hitter.
Tampa Bay struck out 17 occasions.
San Diego performed small ball towards starter Zach Eflin (8-3) within the fifth. Ha-Seong Kim and Trent Grisham opened the inning with successive bunt singles. Fernando Tatis Jr. laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance each runners. Soto adopted with a sacrifice fly to middle area, and Machado hit an infield single that made it 2-0.
“I committed to get on base that inning as a leadoff hitter. I noticed the third baseman was playing a little deep so I thought it was the perfect chance to put the bunt down,” Kim mentioned via an interpreter. “Blake was pitching really good so if we scored a run first we had a good chance to win the ballgame.”
It was the second consecutive loss for Eflin, who gave up three hits and struck out 5 in six innings. Last day out in Oakland, he permitted 4 runs in 4 2/3 innings.
“Eflin was awesome. I felt bad for that one inning,” Cash mentioned. “Let me know the last time the Padres attempted four bunts in one inning, but it worked.”
With the loss, Tampa Bay dropped to 15-8 in interleague play. It was the fourth time this yr the Rays had been shut out, and first since May 29 on the Chicago White Sox.
ATTENDANCE RECORDS
The crowd of 43,180 was a Petco Park file for the Padres. It was their twenty seventh sellout of the season, breaking their earlier mark of 26 set final yr. Entering the day, the Padres had been averaging 40,467 followers per residence sport — second within the majors behind the Los Angles Dodgers (47,800).
UP NEXT
Padres RHP Joe Musgrove (4-2, 4.37 ERA) begins Sunday within the finale of the three-game sequence. RHP Yonny Chirinos (3-1, 3.25) goes for Tampa Bay.
