Left-hander Blake Snell has been placed on the 10-day IL, retroactive to Sunday, April 13, with a fractured toe.
Reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell is headed to the 10-day injured list (IL) with a fractured toe, retroactive to Sunday, April 13. Right-hander Emilio Pagan will take the open roster spot.
The news is less concerning than it would appear at first glance though, as the southpaw is expected to miss just one start. The Rays will hold him out longer if necessary, although the injury seems only to be nothing more than a blip. Snell will be eligible to return on April 24th, the final game of the Rays home series against the Royals.
According to Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times), Snell broke his toe Sunday night at home while he was getting out of the shower at which point he decided to move a decorative stand in the bathroom. Snell didn’t realize the stand was in two parts, as the bottom piece — made of granite — fell on his right foot.
The left-hander was off to a strong start, turning in 2-1 record across 25 innings, with a 2.16 ERA. He has averaged a 13 K/9 against a 1.4 BB/9 so far, entering Tuesday tied with Gerrit Cole for the AL lead in strikeouts with 36 — 33 of which have come in his past three starts (totaling 19 innings).
Pagan will make his Rays debut after spending time in the last two years with the Mariners and Athletics. The right-hander owns a 3.85 ERA across 112-1/3 big league frames up to this point. He appeared out of the ‘pen 55 times for Oakland last season, posting a 4.35 ERA and striking out more than a batter per inning. Prior to his promotion, Pagan fanned 10 batters in six scoreless innings over four relief appearances at Triple-A Durham. He could be utilized in a multi-inning capacity.
The New What Next
Tyler Glasnow (3-0, 0.53 ERA) will get the start in the series opener against the Orioles Tuesday night, pitching opposite of Dylan Bundy (0-1, 8.76 ERA).
Tyler Glasnow earned the win against Chicago on Wednesday by fanning 11 and allowing just two hits and one walk across six scoreless innings. The right-hander’s only trouble came during the third inning when he had a pair of runners in scoring position with only one out, yet Glasnow struck out Yoan Moncada and Jose Abreu to end the threat. He has enjoyed a dominant first three starts to the season with a 7/1 K/BB across 17 innings.
Dylan Bundy allowed six runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts over five innings of a loss to Oakland on Thursday. The eight punch outs were impressive, yet Bundy suffered thanks to the long-ball. In his last 8-2/3 innings, Bundy has served up six homers. He has also yielded 15 hits in 12-1/3 innings of work thus far. Bundy relies primarily on his 91 mph four-seam fastball that has good “rising” action and a whiffy 81 mph slider with two-plane movement, while also mixing in an 84 mph changeup. Over nine career starts against the Rays, the right-hander is 3-4 with a 6.30 ERA and is 1-2 with a 9.00 ERA in four starts at the Trop. Key Matchups: Willy Adames (1-4), Avisail Garcia (4-7), Kevin Kiermaier (4-9, 2 HR, 6 RBI, BB), Micahel Perez (1-3)
You can read about the series in our preview, and the starting lineup is below.
Rays 4/16/19 Starting Lineup
- Meadows DH
- Pham LF
- Choi 1B
- Diaz 3B
- Lowe 2B
- Garcia RF
- Kiermaier CF
- Robertson SS
- Perez C
- Glasnow RHP