The Rays throttled the Nationals on Monday night, 11-0, thanks in part to a dominant pitching performance by Blake Snell. Too bad more people weren’t on hand to see it. (Photo Credit: X-Rays Spex)

After delivering an 11-0 shellacking on Monday night, the Tampa Bay Rays look to complete a two-game series sweep over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday afternoon. The Rays have now won seven consecutive home games, and six of their last eight.

On Blake Snell’s dominant performance last night…

Snell started the game by walking the first two batters he faced, yet slammed the door on the Nationals over the balance of his seven inning, one hit start.

I got pissed; I was annoyed, said Snell on the subject of walking the first two batters.

The left-hander carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning until Anthony Rendon led off the frame with a double off the left field wall. Snell walked two more batters in the frame, although he was able to escape with the shutout intact. Snell fanned 10 and lowered his home ERA from 0.96 to 0.70, extending his club record by allowing just one earned run or fewer in a 10th straight home start.

Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) also dished some noteworthiness relating to Snell’s phenomenal outing:

Retired 18 straight, tying the third-longest streak of consecutive batters retired in team history, behind Matt Garza (22) on July 26, 2010, vs.
Detroit and Chris Archer (19) on July 29, 2015 vs. Detroit.

Made the 11th scoreless start of his career and matched the longest scoreless start of his career.

Reached double-digit strikeouts for the fourth time in his career, third this season. No other Rays pitcher has done so.

Became the seventh Ray to reach double-digit wins
before the All-Star break, first since Matt Moore (13) in 2013.

Allowed two runs or fewer for an AL-most 14th time this season, matching Washington’s Max Scherzer for most in the majors. And allowed one run or fewer for the 10 time, matching most in the majors.

All told, the Rays plated 11 runs on 12 hits including three home runs by Kevin Kiermaier (second inning grand slam) and Wilson Ramos (two homers).

The New What Next

Nathan Eovaldi Nathan Eovaldi (1-3, 4.91 ERA) will get the start for Tampa Bay, pitching opposite of Max Scherzer (10-3, 2.09 ERA).

Eovaldi allowed four runs on seven hits across six innings of a loss to the Astros on Wednesday. All the damage against Eovaldi came on four solo home runs — three on consecutive pitches in his final inning of work. To his credit, he was sharp for the first five innings of his start before he surrendered the solo homers to the top of Houston’s lineup. Despite having good stuff, Eovaldi has relinquished eight homers over his last four starts, including one against Washington in a 4-2 loss on June 5. The right-hander is 2-5 with a 5.30 ERA in 10 career starts against the Nationals. With a rested bullpen staff (thanks, Blake and Austin) perhaps it is wise for Kevin Cash to have a reliever warming the second time through the order, when Eovaldi has performed to a 4.38 ERA and a 5.05 FIP, and pull the right-hander before he gets penalized the third time through, when he has performed to a 7.20 ERA and a 10.11 FIP. Just a thought.

Scherzer threw seven innings of two-run ball in a 4-2 win over Baltimore. He allowed five hits (including two solo homers), walked one and struck out nine. Overall it was a strong start even though Scherzer made two mistakes on the solo shots by former Ray Colby Rasmus and Mark Trumbo. Scherzer still owns a ridiculous 6.71 K/BB in 107-2/3 innings, and has given up more than two runs in just one of his 16 starts this season — back on May 25 when he allowed four runs to the Marlins in a 9-5 defeat over Miami. In his previous start against Tampa Bay, Scherzer allowed just two runs on five hits over eight innings. He fanned 13. Overall, Scherzer is 5-2 with a 2.82 ERA in nine career starts against Tampa Bay, but is 2-1 with a 4.11 ERA in five starts at the Trop. Key Matchups: Matt Duffy (3-5, 2B, HR, 2 RBI), Johnny Field (1-3, 2B), Carlos Gomez (2-7), Mallex Smith (2-7), Joey Wendle (1-3)

You can read about the series in our preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs Nationals part two — an interleague series preview

Rays 6/26/18 Starting Lineup

Kiermaier CF
Duffy 3B
Bauers 1B
Ramos C
Wendle LF
Cron DH
Robertson 2B
Smith RF
Hechavarria SS
Eovaldi RHP

Noteworthiness

— A Tampa Bay win, and losses by Oakland, Anaheim and Seattle, would put the Rays 1-1/2 games behind the Athletics and Angels in the Wildcard race, and six off the pace of the Mariners.

— Why Austin, why?

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