ST. PETERSBURG -- Blake Snell looked a lot more like Blake Snell on Monday night.

In his first two starts since returning from a fractured right fourth toe that had landed him on the 10-day injured list, Snell had allowed nine earned runs in just 6 1/3 innings. But the left-hander said he had made a couple of adjustments that would help him in his next start against Arizona.

Snell wouldn’t say what the adjustments were, but whatever the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner discovered between starts helped him have one of the most dominant outings of the season in the 12-1 win over the D-backs at Tropicana Field.

“Outstanding effort by Blake,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Just kind of looked vintage Blake tonight, which was really, really encouraging.”

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Snell carried a perfect game into the sixth inning until it was broken up by a two-out single by Ildemaro Vargas. He controlled the strike zone, throwing 61 of his 83 pitches for strikes. He also did a much better job of mixing all of his pitches, finishing with 32 fastballs, 27 curveballs and 21 changeups, and just one slider against a righty-heavy lineup.

“It was cool to just have a week to think about what I really needed to do,” Snell said. “I need to get in that groove. I had a really good week. It was just good to get back out there again and continue to get better.”

Snell allowed just one hit and struck out nine, using the curveball to strike out six of them. He used the changeup to set up hitters early in the count, getting eight swings and misses on the pitch. Snell got 17 of his 19 swings and misses on the curveball and changeup, the second-highest single-game total for those two pitches in his career.

“You have to give credit where credit is due,” D-backs manager Torey Luvollo said. “He has dominant stuff. That’s the first time I’ve had a chance to see him. He was very worthy of the honor he received last year as the best pitcher in the American League.

“I felt like our guys were doing the best they could. We have a very, very offensive team that he kept in check. Sometimes you have to stop and give people credit, and that was the situation tonight.”

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Mike Zunino, who caught Snell on Monday, knew early on that the left-hander had a chance for a special night.

“Quite honestly, the first inning,” Zunino said. “The first inning when he came out locating. Mixed everything. First guy, I believe, was a three-pitch strikeout. He just rolled through it. Executed his pitches. Later into the game, he was able to make his pitches late when guys started making adjustments. It was just a smooth start for him.”

Despite the recent results, Snell had continuously said that he felt good and that the fractured toe had not affected his performance. After the pair of rough outings, however, Snell admitted that there was a little added focus for Monday' start.

“Probably one of the worst starts of my career,” Snell said of last Tuesday's 8-2 loss in Kansas City. “I had that motivate me. I use everything as fuel. To have that start, it happened. I knew what I needed to do and get better. I couldn’t wait to pitch. Learning from it, growing from it -- it’s exciting stuff, but it never ends. I need to keep focusing on making strides to just make it a great year.”