There was much for the Rays to like in Wednesday's 9-5 victory over the Red Sox in Boston, their fifth straight win overall.
Some much-needed early offense, as they scored in the first and second innings for the first time this season, and the first four overall. A power show that included home runs by Willy Adames, Yoshi Tsutsugo, Austin Meadows and Brandon Lowe, who finished the night just a triple shy of a cycle. Some snazzy defense, featuring a diving catch in left by Tsutsugo and a nifty play and a 90-mph strike throw by center fielder Kevin Kiermaier to nab a runner at second. The relief Nick Anderson and Pete Fairbanks provided after Aaron Slegers made a mess by allowing five runs in the eighth.
But what was the most significant performance, and most promising, was the sterling five innings they got from starter Blake Snell.
Not only did Snell pitch deeper than he had in any of his first three starts, but better.
Much better.
He allowed only four hits over the five shutout frames, striking out six and walking none in an efficient 70-pitch evening. His fastball was firm, clocking 96-97 mph from the start, his curveball taunting, his slider nasty and his change-up vexing, his most complete overall showing, including 13 swing-and-misses,
In a planned slow build-up coming out of the abbreviated three-week Spring 2.0 training camp, Snell worked only two innings in his first start (throwing 46 pitches), then three in his next two (53 and 59).
But he felt good and crisp coming off of his Friday start against the Yankees, saying with his pitch limit expanded to 75 pitches, his goal Wednesday was to work at least five innings.
That plan looked to be in jeopardy from the start when he had to throw 10 pitches to Sox leadoff man Kevin Pillar, who won the battle with a single to left. But Snell responded by getting three out in four pitches, inducing Rafael Devers to ground into a double play and getting J.D. Martinez on a grounder to first.
Snell stayed in command and control, throwing 16 pitches in the second, 11 in the third, 19 in the fourth and 10 in the fifth.
He faced more than four batters in only one inning, the fourth, when a wild pitch on strike three to Martinez and a single by Xander Bogaerts put two on with one out. But Snell got Christian Vazquez on a popup and Michael Chavis looking at strike three.
The Rays (11-8) have enjoyed their stay in Boston, which concludes with a late-afternoon game Thursday, winning their seventh straight and 12th of their past 13 at Fenway Park and scoring eight runs in each of the first three games. The last time they were that prolific was July 31 and Aug. 1-2 last season.
They got off to a quirky start, loading the bases in the first and scoring a run when Joey Wendle's grounder stuck in Boston first baseman Chavis' glove, forcing him to take the out at first rather than throw home.
The Rays built the lead to 4-0 in the second on a leadoff homer by Adames and a two-run shot by Lowe, then to 6-0 in the third on a two-run shot by Tsutsugo.
A Lowe double, a Yandy Diaz single and a Ji-Man Choi double-play grounder made it 8-0 in the fourth.
But what looked to be an easy night got tense. Slegers, added to the roster earlier Wednesday in place of injured Andrew Kittredge, followed two sharp innings with a bad one. He opened the eighth allowing four straight singles, then a grand slam to Martinez. A sixth straight hit ended Slegers' night, and when Anderson allowed a two-out single, the Red Sox got the tying run to the plate before the Rays escaped.
Meadows' homer in the ninth increased the margin, and Fairbanks finished.
