Tampa Bay's Blake Snell gets the best of Indians in 5-3 loss; three takeaways

CLEVELAND– The Cleveland Indians fall to the Tampa Bay Rays by a final score of 5-3. The Indians fall to 77-58 on the season. The Rays improve their record to

CLEVELAND– The Cleveland Indians fall to the Tampa Bay Rays by a final score of 5-3. The Indians fall to 77-58 on the season. The Rays improve their record to 72-63 on the season.

Shane Bieber gets his third loss on the season. His record is now 8-3. Blake Snell gets his 17th win on the season. His record is now 17-5.

Here are three takeaways from tonight’s ballgame.

1. Blake Snell bounces back after a rough start

Blake Snell has been one baseball’s most dominant pitchers this season. Tonight, it looked like the Indians could hang a huge number on him. But after giving up two runs in the second inning, Snell would go to throw 4 2/3 shut out innings.

Here’s Blake Snell pitching line: 6 2/3 innings, 8 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts, 2.02 ERA

2. Shane Bieber dominant early, struggles late

Bieber was throwing a shut out into the sixth inning-- but then the Rays figured him out. In baseball, pitching against a lineup for a third time is hard and tonight was a prime example of that. The Rays would get four runs on him in the sixth frame to ultimately seal their win.

Here’s Shane Bieber’s pitching line: 5 1/3 innings, 9 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts, 4.66 ERA.

3. Rays battle back

The Rays were down 2-0 in the sixth inning. Indians starting pitcher Shane Bieber was rolling and dominating the Rays offense. All the sudden, here comes the Rays. The Rays would erupt for four runs in the sixth inning. That was enough to gain them a 4-2 lead over the Indians. It also knocked Shane Bieber out of the game and destroyed his dominant start.