ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) – Blake Snell saved his best stuff for the postseason. The lefty had a no-hitter into the 6th inning, and ended-up finishing with 9 strikeouts. That tied a season-high for him and also tied a Rays franchise record for strike-outs in a playoff game.
The stellar pitching performance set the team up for the 3-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, giving them the 1-0 lead in best-of-three series.
Snell got his 5th win of the season, going 5 and two-thirds, giving up one hit, no runs and walking two. Diego Castillo, Nick Anderson and Pete Fairbanks came-in to finish-off what Snell started.
Offensively, the Rays got their first run thanks to a Randy Arozarena lead-off triple in the 4th, which set him up to score two batters later on a wild pitch to Willy Adames.
Then the insurance runs came in the bottom 7th, when Manuel Margot launched a 2-run homer to left field.
Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Wednesday at 4:07 p.m. at Tropicana Field, where the Rays look to close out the AL Wild Card Series, to advance to the divisional round in San Diego, California.
