Rays place Blake Snell on injured list with fractured toe

The Rays have placed starting pitcher Blake Snell on the 10-day injured list with a fractured right toe. The 2018 AL Cy Young award winner is expected to miss just one start, per the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin:

Snell, 26, is unquestionably the Rays’ best starter, and losing him for any extended period would undoubtedly be a major blow to a team that has gotten off to an impressive 12-4 start. But if he’s just going to miss the minimum 10 days, they should be well-equipped to survive without him for a short stretch — particularly since their staff has a collective 2.44 ERA that leads Major League Baseball, and the staff has experience with covering the necessary innings to make up for a starter’s absence after basically operating with three full-time starters for the last year or so.

Though Snell had a rough start on Opening Day, allowing five runs over six innings, he’s settled in nicely and now has a 2.16 ERA and 0.76 WHIP over four starts this season. He presumably suffered the toe injury in Saturday’s start at Toronto, when he was pulled after six innings and 82 pitches.