On Wednesday afternoon, Blake Snell made his return from the 10-day Injured List and had a frustrating outing as he struggled to put away the Kansas City Royal hitters and the Rays would eventually fall to Kansas City by the score of 10-2.

Working with a 65 pitch limit, Snell pitched one out into the 4th inning and finished having allowed three runs — two earned — on five hits, while he walked two and struck out three.

“Frustrating, for sure,” said Snell, describing, his outing. “Happy to get back out there. Happy to feel it again. It’s just a game that I felt different. I don’t know. I felt good, but it was weird. Just frustrating.”

The left-hander said a good indicator that his outing wasn’t as going as well as he had hoped was when he spiked a couple of fastballs in the dirt, which is very uncharacteristic.

“It was something that I’m gonna have to go watch and see what I was really doing, but it was just different,” Snell said. “I noticed because when I’m spiking fastball, that’s just not -- I don’t do that. So that was frustrating.”

Offensively, the Rays only scored two runs but racked up nine hits. Brandon Lowe, Tommy Pham, and Joey Wendle all had multi-hit days. Unfortunately for Wendle and the Rays, Wendle would suffer a fractured wrist after being hit by a pitch during the sixth inning. He will be out for several weeks and possibly months as he recovers.

Ryan Yarbrough struggled during the game and allowed seven runs on eight hits over 4 ¹⁄₃ innings pitched. He would be optioned to Triple-A Durham following the end of the game, a corresponding roster move has yet to be announced.

News and Links

• Melanie Newman and Suzie Cool made history on Tuesday night. The hardest part comes next - Brittany Ghiroli, The Athletic ($)
• Wednesday’s Top Prospect Performers - William Boor and Mike Rosenbaum, MLB.com

Rays: Wander Franco, SS (No. 1, MLB No. 12) -- 1-for-2, HR (1), 2 RBI, 2 R, 2 BB, SB (Class A Bowling Green)A day after going 3-for-3 with three doubles, the 18-year-old shortstop extended his hitting streak to 10 games when he connected on his first home run of the season, a solo shot in the eighth inning of Bowling Green’s 9-2 win over Fort Wayne. After taking home the Appalachian League MVP award last season at age 17, Franco has opened his first full season by hitting .306/.403/.516 with nine extra-base hits, four steals and more walks (11) than strikeouts (7) through 17 games in the Midwest League.

• Rays journal: Infielder Joey Wendle sustains right wrist fracture - John Romano, Tampa Bay Times ($)
• Playing matchups with Emilio Pagan has worked well for Rays and given bullpen studs some rest - Tommy Rancel, The Athletic ($)
• Pham speaks to Write Field students on Jackie Robinson Day - The Ray Tank
• Mailbag: Can the Tampa Bay Rays sustain their hot start? - Josh Tolentino, The Athletic ($)
• Yankees to place Clint Frazier on injured list - Caitlin Rogers, Pinstripe Alley
• Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be called up Friday! - Tom Dakers, Bluebird Banter
• Desperately seeking Sadzeck: Mariners acquire embattled RHP Mike Wright Jr. in return for SS Ryne Ogren - Kate Preusser, Lookout Landing
• Report: Brewers sign Gio Gonzalez to one-year deal - Jaymes L, Brew Crew Ball