Blake Snell tossed 7 1/3 scoreless innings in winning his fourth consecutive start, and the Tampa Bay Rays received two RBIs from Wilson Ramos in a 3-0 win over the host New York Mets on Saturday afternoon at Citi Field.
The Rays climbed back to .500 at 44-44 with their 10th win in 14 games. The Mets had their two-game winning streak snapped and have lost 24 of 32.
Snell (12-4) allowed plenty of traffic -- the Mets put the leadoff batter on in six of the first eight innings -- but held New York hitless in 14 plate appearances with runners on base.
The left-hander, who is likely to earn his first trip to the All-Star Game when the teams are announced Sunday, allowed six hits and three walks while striking out nine. He lowered his ERA to an American League-leading 2.09.
Snell has allowed one run or fewer while throwing at least seven innings in each of his past four starts, during which he has compiled a 0.63 ERA.
The Mets got just two runners to third base against Snell, who departed with Jose Reyes on third. Tampa Bay relievers Diego Castillo and Jose Alvarado got an out apiece to escape the jam.
Alvarado allowed a leadoff single to Michael Conforto in the ninth before Sergio Romo earned his ninth save by retiring all three batters he faced.
The Rays built the only run they'd need in the fifth, when Matt Duffy led off with a double, went to third on Daniel Robertson's grounder to second and scored on Ramos' grounder to short.
The Rays doubled the lead in the eighth, when Daniel Robertson was hit by a pitch, went to second on Ramos' single -- the first hit by either team with a runner on base in 31 plate appearances -- and scored on Carlos Gomez's two-out bloop single to left.
Ramos added an RBI single in the ninth. Gomez also had two hits.
Wilmer Flores had three of the Mets' seven hits.
Steven Matz (4-6) took the loss after allowing one run on five hits and three walks while striking out five over 6 1/3 innings.
--Field Level Media
Tampa Bay | NY Mets | |
Blake Snell | Player | Steven Matz |
Win | W/L | Loss |
7.1 | IP | 6.1 |
9 | Strikeouts | 5 |
6 | Hits | 5 |
0.00 | ERA | 1.42 |
Tampa Bay | NY Mets | |
Carlos Gomez | Player | Wilmer Flores |
2 | Hits | 3 |
1 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 4 |
.500 | Avg | .750 |