Now with SF Giants, Blake Snell says he ‘can’t wait’ to face former club, the Rays
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Beneath the off-white domed ceiling, adjacent to the artificial turf in left field, Blake Snell toed the rubber in Tropicana Field’s foul territory Friday afternoon and found a viewpoint novel even to the left-hander who called this ballpark home for the first five years of his big-league career. For the first time, Snell pitched off the visitor’s bullpen mound for his routine between-starts throwing session. Consider it preparation for another new experience for the two-time Cy Young winner set to come Sunday, when Snell takes the mound between the foul lines here for the first time in road grays. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time,” Snell said after making his way from the bullpen mound to a scrum of about a dozen local reporters in front of the third-base dugout. When he gets the ball in the Giants’ series finale against the Rays, it will be his first start at Tropicana Field since the Rays traded him to San Diego after the 2020 season. The sterile environs treated him well, going 23-12 with a 2.51 ERA in