ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ You were right to worry about the offense when Austin Meadows went down. You still have every reason to question the depth of the bullpen as the innings begin to pile up.
But fretting over a couple of shaky starts by Blake Snell?
Silly, silly, silly.
The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner put those unwarranted fears to rest by flirting with a no-hitter in a 12-1 victory against Arizona on Monday night.
Snell, who lost back-to-back starts for the first time in nearly a year in his first two appearances after breaking his toe in a household accident, was both dominant and efficient as he retired the first 17 hitters he faced, including nine strikeouts.
Ildemaro Vargas broke up the no-hitter with two outs in the sixth with a clean single between third base and shortstop on Snell's 73rd pitch. The left-hander left after six shutout innings with the announced crowd of 8,124 giving him a standing ovation.
Snell had been so overpowering last season that it sent everyone scrambling for explanations after he failed to get out of the fourth inning in his first two starts coming off the injured list.
He had gone nearly a month between victories, and his ERA ballooned from 2.16 to 4.31 after surrendering a total of nine earned runs in consecutive appearances against the Royals.
All of that seemed like a distant memory as Snell struck out five of the first seven batters he faced with a nasty curveball accounting for four of the five third strikes.
Snell's no-hit bid was the only suspense remaining after the second inning.
The Rays, who had a 1-0 lead in the first on a Brandon Lowe walk, a Tommy Pham single and a Ji-Man Choi groundout, blew the game open in the next inning.
Two bloop singles, a hit-by-pitch and a walk put the Rays up 2-0 before Pham delivered Tampa Bay's first grand slam of the season. Pham's shot to centerfield had an exit velocity of 109.1 mph.
In 29 previous plate appearances with the bases loaded, Pham had a .320 batting average with 21 RBIs but had never hit a grand slam.
At 22-12, the Rays have matched their season-high at 10 games above .500
