Blue Jays can’t recover from Snell’s perfect start
Tampa Bay left-hander retires all 15 batters he faces in shutout
The Tampa Bay Rays made their mark in the first of a threegame series on Friday night, with a 7-0 drubbing of the Blue Jays.
Rays starter Blake Snell was perfect through five innings against the Jays, needing only 47 pitches. The left-hander struck out six of the 15 batters he faced.
Snell, making his just his second start after sitting out for weeks with left shoulder fatigue, was replaced by righty Jake Faria to start the sixth. It was Faria who gave up Toronto’s three hits in three innings of work: a single each to to catcher Luke Maile and Randal Grichuk in the sixth and another single to the night’s third baseman, Richard Urena, in the eighth. Justin Smoak, who came into the night on a 13- game hitting streak, went 0for-4.
The lefty is one of the best young starters in the game, according to Jays manager John Gibbons.
“That was kind of the Snell show there, right out of the gates and then Faria came in, picked up where he left off, he’s been tough on us in the past, too so yeah, tough night,” he said.
Right-hander Marco Estrada gave up the Rays’ first five runs — including homers to catcher Michael Perez and designated hitter Ji-Man Choi — through 51⁄ innings. Lefty Thomas Pan3 none, 24, making his majorleague debut, surrendered the other two runs.
“I’ve got to have better fastball command, plain and simple” Estrada said. “And locate. I didn’t locate the fastball at all. Threw some good changeups today, did have a few swing- and-misses on it, so that was a positive from this game.”
The Jays, who have now used 29 pitchers this season, struggled against the bottom of the Rays order. No. 8 hitter Willy Adames and Perez, the No. 9 hitter, went a combined 5-for-7 with a walk.
Choi’s homer to start the sixth signalled the end for Estrada, who handed the ball to Pannone after striking out right fielder Carlos Gomez. Thursday’s call-up got two outs to end the inning before giving up two runs in the seventh.
“I just stayed in the moment the best way I could,” Pannone said. “Just tried to get loose, warm up, I didn’t want to try to look at the big picture, I just wanted to stay focused on what I’ve been doing on a day-to-day and bring it out on the mound.”