Blake Snell, Padres stifle Rays 2-0 on 17 strikeouts

Blake Snell threw six masterful innings against his former team and the Padres scored two runs in the fifth inning on three bunts, a sacrifice fly and an error as host San Diego defeated Tampa Bay 2-0 Saturday.

Snell (3-6) struck out five of the first six Rays he faced and allowed two hits and three walks while equaling his season-high with 12 strikeouts. Snell has worked 12 straight scoreless innings.

Josh Hader picked up his 17th save as four Padres pitchers combined on the three-hit shutout.

Meanwhile, the Padres scored twice in the fifth off Rays starter Zach Eflin in an inning that started with three straight bunts.

Ha-Seong Kim and Trent Grisham opened the inning with back-to-back bunt singles to the left side of the infield. Fernando Tatis Jr. then moved Kim and Grisham up with a sacrifice bunt.

Juan Soto drove in Kim with a sacrifice fly to center fielder Jose Siri, who made a mistake by throwing hopelessly to the plate, allowing Grisham to advance to third. Grisham then scored when Manny Machado reached on an infield single to third.

Eflin gave up two runs on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts over six innings. But his record fell to 8-3 as four Padres pitchers handed Tampa Bay its fourth shutout loss of the season.

Snell and three relievers had retired 13 straight when Taylor Walls got an infield single off Hader with two out in the ninth. Hader then struck out Manuel Margot to end the game.

Padres pitchers recorded 17 strikeouts, equaling the season high for Tampa Bay. Randy Arozarena went down swinging four times and Margot's game-ending strikeout was his third. Every hitter in the Tampa Bay lineup struck out at least once.

Tampa Bay, which saw a three-game winning streak snapped, didn't hit a ball out of the infield after the third. Snell pitched for the Rays from 2016-20.