The Rays put together a nice 5-3 bounce back win against Cleveland Saturday night. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

Bereft of his best stuff early on, Blake Snell gave up two uncharacteristic runs (one earned) in the second inning but battled through 6-2/3 frames, as the Rays rallied for four runs in the sixth to put him on the winning side of the ledger. Tampa Bay defeated Cleveland on Saturday, 5-3, and enter Sunday’s finale eight games back in the Wildcard race with 27 left to play.

The first two innings were messy for Snell, who allowed three hits (a single and two doubles), a walk, and three stolen bases. A throwing error by Matt Duffy in the second inning — when Cleveland took a two-run lead — certainly didn’t help.

Brandon Guyer reached on the abovementioned leadoff two-base throwing error before Melky Cabrera followed with a double to left-center two pitches later. Yan Gomes added a run on his own double to left, putting Cleveland in front 2-0. Yet Snell buckled down and got Erik Gonzalez to pop out in foul territory on a botched bunt attempt. Then, Francisco Lindor struck out getting the southpaw one out closer escaping the jam. Two pitches later, Michael Brantley singled to shallow center, however, Kevin Kiermaier prevented a third run, throwing out Gomes at the plate, ending the threat.

From there, the southpaw didn’t allow a runner beyond first base. He retired 10 consecutive batters before giving up a two-out single to Erik Gonzalez in the seventh inning and struck out four in a row during one stretch.

We always talk about what his best start is, this and that, Rays manager Kevin Cash said after the game. You can argue that was his best start because he didn’t have anything. He didn’t cruise by any means. He had to work. But that was a pretty telling performance from Blake and how far he’s come.

Snell said his stuff improved as the night progressed.

I started slow, frustrated about that, Snell said. But I’m very happy with how I came back, fastball started to jump there towards the end, slider, everything started to work a lot better.

All told, Snell gave up two runs (one earned) on eight hits and a walk while striking out nine on 101 pitches (62 strikes, 61% strike rate, 14/27 first-pitch strikes) across 6-2/3 innings. At 17 wins on the season, the left-hander is tied with Luis Severino and Corey Kluber — two other top candidates for the Cy Young Award — for the most wins in the majors. Snell is 5-0 in his last six starts while his 2.02 ERA is second in the AL behind Chris Sale (1.97 ERA).

Meanwhile, the Rays rallied for four runs in the sixth inning.

Brandon Lowe started things off against Shane Bieber with a hard single to right-center ahead of Joey Wendle, who doubled to right, putting both runners into scoring position with none out. Duffy was next, atoning for his throwing error by looping a double into the rightfield corner, scoring both runners.

Then with one out, after Duffy moved up to third on a Ji-Man Choi grounder to second, Tommy Pham ripped a double to the left-center gap, putting Tampa Bay ahead for the first time, 3-2, chasing Shane Bieber.

Left-handed reliever Tyler Olson entered in relief, and Kiermaier greeted him with a run-scoring single to right, putting Tampa Bay up by two.

The Outlaw later left the game with back spasms and is listed as day-to-day.

Cleveland had a great chance to rally against Tampa Bay in the eighth. Jose Alvarado, who got the last out for Snell in the bottom of the seventh, began the frame and Brantley reached on a Willy Adames error. After Jose Ramirez walked, Alvarado gave way to Chaz Roe, who got Edwin Encarnacion to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. Finally, with Brantley at third, Yandy Diaz flew out to center, ending the threat.

In the top of the ninth, Lowe crushed a homer (his second of the season) off the rightfield foul pole, putting the Rays up by three.

Even though Roe allowed a pinch-hit homer to Jason Kipnis, capping the scoring, he got the next two batters before Adam Kolarek got the final out to close out the game for his second save of the season.

All told, Tampa Bay collected 13 hits — two from Wendle, Duffy and Lowe, while Ji-Man Choi had three.

The New What Next

The rubber game of the series is this afternoon. Diego Castillo (3-2, 3.73 ERA) will open the game for the Rays, whileRyan Yarbrough (12-5, 3.75 ERA) is expected to pitch the bulk of the innings.

Castillo hadn’t given up a three-run homer in Atlanta his last time out — the first runs allowed by the right-hander in 10 innings of work.

Yarbrough allowed one run on five hits and one walk across five innings on Saturday against Boston. He struck out two. Yarbrough stifled a difficult Red Sox lineup through five innings before exiting with the game tied at one apiece. The lone run he allowed came from a double play groundout in the second inning. The 25-year-old now owns a solid 3.75 ERA through 124-2/3 innings this season.

Carrasco struck out 11 across 7-2/3 shutout innings to earn the win Tuesday against the Twins. He allowed four hits and two walks along the way. Carrasco was at the top of his game, throwing 68% of his pitches for strikes as he recorded his second-highest strikeout total of the season. He also limited base runners to great effect and allowed just one runner to reach scoring position. The 31-year-old hurler is in the midst of one of his best stretches of the season, tossing at least seven scoreless innings in three of his last four starts. Like Kluber before him, Carrasco has been especially tough on the Rays over his career, going 4-3 with a 2.77 ERA in nine appearances (eight starts).

Rays 9/2/18 Starting Lineup

Wendle 3B

Pham CF

Choi DH

Cron 1B

Lowe 2B

Adames SS

Bauers LF

Gomez RF

Moore C

Castillo RHP

You can read about the series in our preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs. Cleveland — a series preview

Noteworthiness

— Mallex Smith had five plate appearances of a rehab game for the Charlotte Stone Crabs yesterday (0–4, BB, K). He could join the Rays in Toronto this week.

— From the fingertips of Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) to your eyes:

The Rays are 5-2 in an eight-game stretch of three straight series against first place teams. Of the 27 remaining games, 11 are against clubs above .500 with the remaining 16 against teams below that mark.

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