Amed Rosario and Rene Pinto swatted home runs off San Francisco starter Blake Snell to spoil his return to the Tampa area, leading the Tampa Bay Rays by the Giants 9-4 on Sunday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Rosario ripped a two-run shot to left in the first, while Pinto slugged a two-run rocket to center three innings later for a 7-1 lead against the team’s former star hurler.
A five-year member of the Rays which included his 2018 American League Cy Young-winning campaign, Snell (0-2) was battered for seven runs on six hits in four innings as his ERA rose to 12.86. He fanned four and walked two.
Pinto added his second homer to cap a 2-for-4, 4-RBI day. Rosario was 3-for-4 and Isaac Paredes had a homer, double and two RBIs as the Rays won two of three contests from the National League West club.
Tyler Alexander (1-0) tossed six innings of two-run ball behind opener Shawn Armstrong to win for the first time in his third outing with the Rays.
San Francisco’s Michael Conforto hit a solo homer, while Jorge Soler was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Tyler Fitzgerald had two hits and tripled in a run. LaMonte Wade Jr. notched an RBI single.
After a pregame ceremony inducting late radio broadcaster Dave Wills into the Rays Hall of Fame, Lee lined the game’s first pitch into right and soon stole second base before Wade sent him home with a single to left.
However, the Rays welcomed back their former ace – a 21-game winner in 2018 – with a three-run first highlighted by Rosario’s two-run long ball to left field.
Rosario lined an elevated 85-mph changeup and barely got it over the railing. After the homer was reviewed for fan interference, the right fielder was credited with his first Tampa Bay home run.
In the third, Paredes sliced a single to shallow right to score Harold Ramirez for a 4-1 advantage.
After a pair of walks by Snell, Pinto tacked on to the lead by walloping a three-run shot an estimated 433 feet to center for his first homer and a 7-1 lead.
Soler’s RBI single in the sixth made it 7-2 Rays, but Pinto answered with another deep ball to right off reliever Kai-Wei Teng.
Conforto and Paredes swapped homers, their fourth and fifth, respectively, in the seventh.
Fitzgerald tripled to shallow right to score Tom Murphy in the ninth.
