Rays left-hander Blake Snell entered the history books on Sunday, striking out the first seven Mariners he faced. That tied the American League record for the most consecutive strikeouts to begin a game, held by a pair of White Sox pitchers, Joe Cowley (1986) and Carlos Rondon (2016).
Former Tampa Bay teammate Denard Span grounded out to second with one out in the third to end the strikeout streak. Snell proceeded to fan Mike Zunino to end the inning, giving him eight in the first three frames.
The Washington native fell one strikeout shy of the modern Major League record, set by Houston's Jim Deshaies in 1986 and tied by the Mets' Jacob deGrom in 2014.