Rays hit 4 home runs in routing Giants, former ace Blake Snell

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Leadoff hitter Yandy Diaz admitted he felt pressure to get a struggling Rays offense going after it was held to four runs in the first two games of the series against the Giants. Sunday, however, the rest of the lineup showed it can be dangerous even without Diaz and Randy Arozarena carrying it.

Rene Pinto hit two of the Rays’ four home runs, including one of two off former Tampa Bay ace Blake Snell, in a 9-4 rout of San Francisco before an announced 19,470 at Tropicana Field.

A day after taking their worst loss (11-2), the Rays (9-7) rebounded with their most runs in a game so far this season. After hitting just three home runs over their previous nine games, they broke out with four in a game for the first time since July 31, 2023, at Yankee Stadium.

Snell was making his second start against the Rays since being traded to the Padres in December 2020 and first as an opponent at the Trop, where he started 50 games for Tampa Bay. The reigning National League Cy Young winner also was making just his second start of the season after signing with the Giants as a free agent late in spring training.

The Rays’ lineup took advantage, reaching Snell for seven runs on six hits and two walks. He struck out four batters.

Amed Rosario, who entered the game 0-for-11 against Snell, hit his first home run of the season in the first. The 384-foot shot cleared the leftfield fence to give the Rays a 3-1 lead.

In the third, Harold Ramirez reached on an infield single, then scored on Isaac Paredes’ single. After Snell walked Curtis Mead and Niko Goodrum to start the fourth, Pinto blasted a one-out, 433-foot home run that bounced off the batter’s eye in centerfield.

In the sixth, Pinto again went deep, this time 380 feet to the opposite field off right-hander Kai-Wei Teng. Paredes homered against Teng an inning later, his team-leading fifth of the season.

Diaz got things started with a leadoff double in the first, his first extra-base hit in his past eight games. He entered the game hitting just .203 with two doubles and a home run.

Two batters later, Diaz scored the Rays’ first run on Arozarena’s sharp line drive over the head of shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald, tying the game at 1. The hit snapped an 0-for-9 stretch for Arozarena that spanned the first two games of this series.

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