Rays jump on top early, Blake Snell bolsters Cy Young claim in win over Cleveland
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) —Blake Snell is locked in on the Tampa Bay Rays' longshot postseason hopes, not thinking about winning the AL Cy Young Award.
Snell took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and got his major league-leading 19th win, leading the Rays over the Cleveland Indians 3-1 on Wednesday.
"I know that we're winning and that's the most important thing," Snell said. "That's what I'm focused on, that's what we're focused on. All the individual stuff I'll look at later."
Snell (19-5) lost his bid when Jose Ramirez led off the seventh with his 38th homer. Snell won his team-record seventh straight start, striking out nine and walking two in seven innings. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in 16 consecutive home starts.
Chaz Roe and Jose Alvarado each got three outs, completing a one-hitter. Alvarado got his eighth save in 11 chances.
Tampa Bay closed within eight games of Oakland for the second AL wild card with 17 games left. The Athletics were scheduled to play at Baltimore on Wednesday night, then open a three-game series at Tampa Bay on Friday night.
Snell's ERA dropped to 2.03, second in the AL behind Boston's Chris Sale at 1.96. Snell's 1.24 ERA at home is best in the majors.
"He's got the whole package," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "He's got velocity, breaking ball, changeup, and seeing how much he's improved from one year to the next, that's pretty special stuff."
Cleveland's magic number to clinch a third consecutive AL Central title remained at three.
Ji-Man Choi hit a two-run homer in the first off Carlos Carrasco (16-9), then took a well-inside pitch from Carrasco in the sixth and briefly stared at the mound. Choi hit a winning homer off Brad Hand in the ninth inning on Monday night.
"Every at-bat I can hit a home run you feel great, especially today helping to contribute to a win for Snell," Choi said through a translator.
Cleveland's Edwin Encarnacion stared and shook his head after a high and inside pitch from Snell in the fourth.
"It was nothing," Encarnacion said. "No hard feelings. He tried to go inside. No problem."
Carrasco (16-9) gave up three runs and six hits in seven innings.
Josh Donaldson, acquired by Cleveland from Toronto on Aug. 31, hit into a double play as a pinch-hitter in the eighth. He went 0 for 4 Tuesday in his Cleveland debut, his first big league game since May 28.
Cleveland center fielder Jason Kipnis, left fielder Michael Brantley, catcher Yan Gomes and first baseman Yonder Alonso were also rested.
Tommy Pham extended his career-best hitting streak to 16 games with a two-out infield single in the first and scored on Choi's drive to center field.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Indians: Donaldson is to start at third base on Friday.
Rays: CF Kevin Kiermaier didn't provide details for what the team called a "general illness" that kept him out the lineup the previous two games. "Time to rest really helped," said Kiermaier, who had a fourth-inning sacrifice fly and tripled during the sixth.
NUMBERS
Ramirez's homer was his first since Aug. 17, ending an 88 at-bat drought. ... Tampa Bay OF Mallex Smith stole two bases and has 33 overall. ... The game was played in 2 hours, 20 minutes.
UP NEXT
Indians: RHP Mike Tomlin (1-5) is to face Detroit LHP Matthew Boyd (9-12) on Friday night.
Rays: RHP Diego Castillo (3-2) will start a bullpen game for Tampa Bay Friday night against Oakland RHP Edwin Jackson (5-3). The Rays took three of four from the Athletics in Oakland from May 28-31.
