Snell pitched one of his finest games for Rays./CARMEN MANDATO
Monday, 4 a.m.
As feeble as their bats were, and as lousy as they were at protecting a lead, you can argue that the Rays got what they deserved Sunday afternoon.
Not Blake Snell. He deserved better.
Snell, the Rays 25-year-old left-hander, pitched one of the Rays' finest games of the season on Sunday and walked away with nothing to show for it. Snell opened the game with seven. straight strikeouts (he had 12 in all) and gave up just two hits and no runs through six innings.
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Cron was hit on the wrist by a pitch./CARMEN MANDATO
A shame, then, that the Rays couldn't make that one run hold up. The Mariners scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to pull out a 2-1 win and complete a three-game sweep of Tampa Bay, which fell to two games under .500 at 28-30.
Snell has now allowed just two earned runs in his last five appearances.
“It was really enjoyable," said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. "When I took him out of the game, I think everyone went up to him and said “Thanks Blake, that was
Robertson had two hits for the Rays./CARMEN MANDATO
fun to watch.” We couldn't have asked Blake for more. We needed a performance like that. We just came up short."
Snell, pitching in front of his family and friends (he grew up in Washington), has steadily become the best pitcher on the Rays' staff.
Seattle tied the game at 1-1 when the Rays turned shaky with the lead. Ryan Healy walked to start the inning, and Brad Miller followed with an error. Former Ray Denard Span singled in pinch runner Andrew Romine to tie the game, and Dee Gordon had an infield hit to drive in the wining run.
For the second straight day, the Rays had just five hits, two of them by Daniel Robertson.
The Rays now travel from Washington state to Washington, D.C. to face the Nationals. Nathan Eovaldi pitches against Max Scherzer, who is 9-1 on the season, at 7:05 p.m.
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