Blue Jays 3, Rays 1
Record: 11-4
Attendance: 20,771 Canadians love the Rays. Montreal especially. They can't wait to have two teams in the AL East, a natural rivalry with Toronto. The clock is ticking Rays fans: turn out in big numbers on Tuesday to root what is still your team against the Orioles. We do have a fan base!
The story from the Rays' point of view today was Blake Snell pitching six more quality innings, giving up one hit and no runs but leaving the seventh inning to Chaz Roe, who gave up hits to Justin Smoak and Randal Grichuk before Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. drove them both in with a double off the center field wall to take a 2-1 lead. They added another run in the eighth, and that's how it ended with a wasted effort by Snell and another loss for Roe, his second of the young season.
The decision to pull Snell after only six innings and 82 pitches is being second-guessed of course, but Kevin Cash and pitching coach Kyle Snyder were adamant that preserving pitchers for later in the season was smart baseball--and Snell agreed. He was quoted after the game: "This is their plan and I agree with it 100 percent. I think it's all about longevity."
Don't be surprised if Roe goes down to Durham soon to get his mojo back by pitching more regularly. That's probably how the announcement will go.
Offensively, the Rays had almost nothing to brag about this afternoon. Their one run was driven in by Austin Meadows (16), who went 2 for 3 plus an intentional walk with runners in scoring position. That's it, except for Tommy Pham, who had one hit to extend his consecutive on-base streak to 47 games. Clay Buchholz pitched six innings, giving up six hits and the one run before giving the ball to the Toronto bullpen, which shut the Rays down the rest of the way. The win went to the first reliever, Thomas Pannone.
Charlie Montoyo's Blue Jays are an aggressive, high-energy team that keeps its foot on the pedal, which means that the first two games of this set were competitive and fun to watch. The rubber match tomorrow pits Charlie Morton against Marcus Stroman. The Rays are trying for their fifth consecutive series win.
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