Rays 2, Royals 10
Record: 16-9
Attendance: 9,502
The good news is that Blake Snell encountered no issues in his first start back from the Fractured Toe Injury List. But that's all the good news as the Rays took it on the chin from a team that hits and runs well enough to punish even good teams when they get caught napping.
Snell was on a short leash on innings and pitches, just enough to test the toe--and hopefully enough to let the Rays take an early lead that the bullpen would hold onto. The toe part seems to have worked out fine (we'll know more tomorrow), but the rest not so much. Snell's line included three and a third innings, three Ks, 65 pitches (42 for strikes), and three runs allowed, including a third inning home run by Whit Merrifield.
But the Royals weren't content to just beat the homeboys--they piled on, scoring four in the sixth and one more each in the seventh and eighth for a 10-2 thumping. And they struck out 12 of the locals.
You'd like to think that was the extent of the bad news, but it gets worse. Royals' reliever Jake Diekman, working the sixth, drilled Joey Wendle on the right wrist with a 95 mph fastball, fracturing it according to a locker room x-ray and putting him right back on the IL--a mere four days after his return to duty after a 17-day stint for a hamstring injury. Wendle is the versatile spark plug that drives the Rays, a .300 hitter who finished fourth in last year's Rookie of the Year voting--and he had already driven in a run with a double in the first inning. With some luck we'll get him back on June 1, but until then Joey Wendle will be sorely missed.
Sixteen-game winner last year, lefty Ryan Yarbrough, had another rough outing, seven earned runs in four and a third innings, and was optioned to Durham after the game with Austin Pruitt. It is likely another infielder will be called up Friday for the start of the Boston series.
Ji-Man Choi is back from his mystery "restricted list" leave. No details on that have been released.
Nothing about this game was pretty, except maybe for the fourth toe on Blake Snell's right foot.
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