ST. PETERSBURG -- Matt Andriese delivered the goods Thursday night when he shut down the Marlins in a 5-1 Rays win at Tropicana Field.
Andriese threw seven scoreless frames, allowing five hits and three walks while striking out a season-high eight.
"I had a good mix going," Andriese said. "I wouldn't say it was my finest outing in terms of command but just kind of kept them off balance. The changeup was working really well and made some pitches when I needed to."
The performance came on the heels of Blake Snell's five-inning performance Wednesday night that led to the Rays' bullpen allowing eight runs.
"We were kind of beat up in the bullpen the last couple of nights," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "He picked us up in a huge way and really did a nice job commanding his zone and making some big pitches."
The bullpen needed to record just six outs Thursday night, thanks to Andriese. The right-hander's only trouble came in the third with the Rays leading 2-0.
Adeiny Hechavarria singled to open the inning and Dee Gordon followed with a bunt single to bring Martin Prado to the plate. Andriese got the Marlins' designated hitter to ground sharply to third baseman Daniel Robertson, who stepped on third and snapped off a throw to second. While Brad Miller's relay to first did not beat Prado to complete the triple play, the play gave a huge lift to Andriese.

"That was huge, with nobody out there," Andriese said. "... It was a great play. Things could have spiraled there, gave up one or two, but huge play by D-Rob, and to have an attempt at a triple play was pretty sweat."
Marlins manager Don Mattingly described Andriese as "a little bit of a complicated, to me, guy."
"Because he's a bit of a crossover guy, a big crossfire guy. Pitches off one edge, crosses over to the other side with his stride and it is a different angle," Mattingly said. "It's something to deal with. He's ahead in the count a lot, and you just got to know what you are dealing with angle-wise. So he can be a handful, and I can see why."
Andriese retired the Marlins in order in his final frame, getting Hechavarria to pop up the right-hander's 113th pitch of the evening for the third out, completing his second consecutive seven-inning start.
"It's kind of what I pride myself on," Andriese said. "I keep saying to go deep in the games, and it's kind of finally showing and I'm happy about that."