Snell silences former team in emotional 12-K gem

SAN DIEGO -- There are no hard feelings, Blake Snell insists, and certainly no ill will. The veteran left-hander only has love for his time with Tampa Bay -- where he spent the first five years of his career, where he won a Cy Young, where he (rather infamously) pitched in a World Series.

But when his old team came to town this weekend, well, you’d better believe Snell had it circled on his calendar. In no uncertain terms, Snell wanted the Rays.

“A lot of those guys were in it from the day I walked in the door as a professional,” Snell said. “So yeah, emotional. It’s cool to pitch in front of people that have supported you, raised you, challenged you. There’s just a lot that they’ve done that made me who I am today.”

It’s a zen way of looking at things. The Rays were the organization that drafted, developed and nurtured Snell. But they’re also the organization that traded him two and a half years ago, and on Saturday afternoon at Petco Park, Snell gave them a reminder of what they traded away.

In a 2-0 victory, Snell allowed two hits across six scoreless innings, striking out 12 -- one shy of his career high. In the process, he lowered his ERA to 0.60 across his past five starts, rekindling the dominant version of himself that won the American League Cy Young Award with Tampa Bay in 2018.

“Most of us have seen Blake throw very well,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash, who will forever be linked to Snell for his decision to lift the left-hander early in Game 6 of the 2020 World Series -- Snell’s final start with Tampa Bay. “That was a very strong outing. He had everything going. The first inning -- the stuff, the strike-throwing -- kind of had that feeling of, ‘Uh oh.’ He backed it up.”

Snell came out roaring from the start -- striking out the side in the first, including his hardest pitch of the season, a 98.2 mph fastball to Wander Franco -- and he never relented. Using all four weapons in his arsenal brilliantly, Snell baffled the Majors’ second-ranked run-producing offense.

“His stuff was amazing, watching him from behind him,” said second baseman Ha-Seong Kim through Korean interpreter Leo Bae. “He showed us why he’s a former Cy Young winner.”

It was Kim whose bunt single ignited an ultra-small-ball rally in the fifth. The Padres were also facing a pitcher they’d once drafted and traded away in right-hander Zach Eflin, who stymied them for much of the day. Kim came to the plate in the fifth with San Diego having been held to just one hit.

“I noticed the third baseman was playing a little deep, and I thought it was the perfect chance to put the bunt down,” Kim said. “… Plus, Blake was pitching pretty good, so if we scored a run first, then we had a good chance to win the ballgame.”

Kim wasn’t the only one with that idea. His bunt prompted a small-ball sequence the sport hasn’t seen in nearly four years. On the very next pitch, Trent Grisham squared to bunt. He popped it up -- but it landed in no-man’s land just beyond the mound for a hit. One pitch after that, Fernando Tatis Jr. tried to drag a bunt for a hit. He didn’t get enough on it and was thrown out, but he would be duly credited with a sacrifice.

Three pitches, three bunts in play. Per Elias Sports Bureau, that sequence hasn’t happened in the big leagues since Aug. 31, 2019, when the Royals laid down three successive bunts against the Orioles.

“We were just going to bunt our way around the field,” said Padres manager Bob Melvin.

The small ball continued even after the bunts, with Juan Soto plating Kim on a sacrifice fly and Manny Machado beating out an infield single, allowing Grisham to score.

“That’s a really cool way to win a baseball game,” Grisham said.

Those two small-ball runs were all the Padres would need. Steven Wilson, Nick Martinez and Josh Hader followed Snell with a scoreless inning apiece. Petco Park -- sold out for a record 27th time this season -- got louder with each.

“With the lead at the end, it felt similar to some games here at the end of last season,” Melvin said. “They get into it, and we feel it. The amount of sellouts we’ve had this year are unbelievable. The support we get from these fans -- not only at the ballpark, around the ballpark -- it’s unlike really anywhere else right now.

“A lot of credit to them, they keep coming out, supporting us. Hopefully we can get on a better run for ‘em and, like today, put on a good show.”