The Rays and Blake Snell figured out how to neutralize the many Cubs fans who were among the 24,000 at Tropicana Field tonight: don’t give them anything to cheer about.
There was certainly a day when a Blake Snell-Jon Lester pitching match up would seem to have heavily favored the Cubs. But today, there’s a new dominant lefty in town. Lester struggled with command and left without completing five innings.
Snell meanwhile was getting ahead with fastballs and then nailing his opponents on his curve, in several cases with batters contorting themselves as they sought to make contact with pitches in the dirt.