PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Thursday’s Grapefruit League start in the Rays' 1-0 win over the Twins at Charlotte Sports Park was the first time Blake Snell took the mound since winning the 2018 American League Cy Young Award.
“Definitely excited to get through it,” Snell said. “I was excited about just getting back on the mound.”
Snell threw 16 pitches in just one inning of work Thursday. The left-hander came away pleased with his performance, especially with his curveball, which was the pitch he used for the two strikeouts he recorded.
“That was the best it’s been all spring,” Snell said of his curveball. “I’ve been pretty upset with it lately, so to be able to see that feels really good.”
The one-out, four-pitch walk to Twins infielder Jonathan Schoop was the only blip in Snell’s line Thursday.
“I’ve faced him 500,000 times,” Snell said of Schoop. “So that’s just a lack of concentration, lack of execution. That was very frustrating for me.”
The plan for the Rays is to keep Snell going every fifth game this spring. He’s expected to pitch again Tuesday, likely against the Twins in a split-squad game in Fort Myers, Fla. Even with the plan to keep him going every fifth day, the Rays have yet to commit to Snell pitching on Opening Day or announcing any sort of rotation for the season.
Getting deeper into games is one area where Snell wants to improve in 2019. Despite winning the AL Cy Young Award last year, Snell was unable to get to the 200-inning mark. A big focus this season will be to eliminate the amount of walks and keep his pitch count low in order to consistently get into the seventh and eighth inning of games.
That’s something Snell will work on throughout the spring, but he’s not overly concerned about that just yet.
“Spring Training, first start, yes, 16 pitches is good,” Snell said. “If you’re looking at it the way I’m looking at it, throwing 16 pitches isn’t going to get me through seven [innings], so I’m upset with that part. There’s a lot of give and take.”
Yarbrough exits game
Ryan Yarbrough faced just one batter Thursday before leaving the game with tightness in his left groin. Yarbrough said he felt some tightness during his warmup pitches, but doesn’t think the injury is serious.
“I think we’re just being a little more precautionary,” Yarbrough said. “At this time of the year, it’s not worth pushing through and potentially getting something worse and missing a lot of time.”
Choi expected back on Friday
Ji-Man Choi, who exited Tuesday’s game against the Orioles due to a tweak in his back, is projected to be in the lineup for Friday’s game against Baltimore in Sarasota, Fla. He missed the last couple of games with the injury.
Up next
Charlie Morton makes his first Grapefruit League start as a member of the Rays when the team travels to Sarasota on Friday to take on the Orioles at 1:05 p.m. ET at Ed Smith Stadium. Yonny Chirinos, Adam Kolarek, Andrew Kittredge, Luis Santos and Hunter Wood are also scheduled to pitch.
Austin Meadows, Daniel Robertson, Choi, Mike Zunino, Kevin Kiermaier, Guillermo Heredia, Christian Arroyo, Jason Coats and Nick Solak are scheduled to be in the Rays lineup against former Rays pitcher and current Orioles starter Alex Cobb.