ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Blake Snell overcame occasional wildness to go six effective innings, and the Tampa Bay Rays stopped an eight-game losing streak by beating Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners 7-3 on Saturday.
Snell (8-3), who was born in Seattle, gave up two runs and seven hits. The left-hander walked two, recorded one strikeout, hit a batter and had two wild pitches.
Hernandez (6-5) allowed six runs and seven hits over three innings in his shortest start this season, a rematch of last Sunday’s matchup against Snell and the Rays in Seattle. He gave up one run and five hits over eight innings in his victory last weekend. Snell struck out 12 over six scoreless innings and got a no-decision in that game.
Nelson Cruz hit a fifth-inning homer and Kyle Seager had a pair of RBI grounders for Seattle, which lost for just the fifth time in 21 games.
Mallex Smith had an RBI triple — first called a homer and overturned after a video review — and Christian Arroyo hit a run-scoring single to put Tampa Bay up 6-1 in the third.
Smith scored from second during a three-run second when shortstop Jean Segura was charged with an error. Rob Refsynder’s bloop single to left bounced off the turf and went off Segura’s glove.
Chaz Roe, the second Rays reliever, went the final 1 1/3 innings for his first career save.
Snell had a career-opening stretch of not hitting a batter end at 56 starts when he hit Segura to load the bases with two outs in the second. Shortstop Daniel Robertson bailed out his teammate with a leaping catch on Mitch Haniger’s liner.
Rays rookie Jake Bauers doubled in the first for his first major league hit after starting his career 0 for 8.
HIGHLIGHT PLAY
Rays RF Carlos Gomez made a sliding catch near the bullpen on Ryon Healy’s foul ball in the seventh and was OK after first baseman Bauers collided with him.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: 2B Dee Gordon, who was on the disabled list from May 22-31 with a fractured toe, got most of the game off before entering as a defensive replacement in the eighth. “The guy runs 23½ miles an hour and then wears a boot out of here every night,” manager Scott Servais said. … RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (shoulder surgery) is throwing to hitters.
Rays: RHP Chris Archer (left abdominal strain) had a 22-pitch bullpen session and could return after a simulated game Tuesday. “Everything felt fine,” Archer said.
UP NEXT
Mariners: LHP James Paxton (5-1, 2.95 ERA), who’s unbeaten since the start of May, will start Sunday.
Rays: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (1-1, 3.27) makes his third start since returning from Tommy John surgery in August 2016.
