Snell silences former workforce with 12-Ok gem

SAN DIEGO — There aren’t any exhausting emotions, Blake Snell insists, and positively no unwell will. The veteran left-hander solely has love for his time with Tampa Bay — the place he spent the primary 5 years of his profession, the place he gained a Cy Young, the place he (reasonably infamously) pitched in a World Series.

But when his outdated workforce got here to city this weekend, properly, you’d higher imagine Snell had it circled on his calendar. In no unsure phrases, Snell needed the Rays.

On Saturday afternoon at Petco Park, he gave them a reminder of what they traded away two and a half years in the past.

Snell gave the Padres simply the beginning they wanted, permitting two hits throughout six scoreless innings in a 2-0 victory. He struck out 12, one shy of his profession excessive. Snell got here out roaring from the beginning — placing out the facet within the first, together with his hardest pitch of the season, a 98.2 mph fastball to Wander Franco — and he by no means relented.

The Padres grabbed a lead within the fifth on the small-balliest of small-ball rallies. Ha-Seong Kim and Trent Grisham opened the body by bunting for hits. Fernando Tatis Jr. adopted by making an attempt the identical, although he was thrown out at first base and duly credited with a sacrifice. After Juan Soto’s sacrifice fly and Manny Machado’s infield single, San Diego had a 2-0 lead it wouldn’t relinquish.