Blake Snell’s first win with the San Francisco Giants was historic.
Snell pitched a no-hitter Friday night at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati to lead the Giants to a 3-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. It was the first no-hitter of his career and the 18th in Giants history.
Snell struck out 11 and allowed just three runners to reach base on walks while throwing 114 pitches in the win. The 31-year-old also hadn’t pitched eight full innings on the mound before Friday night, though it didn’t bother him at the time.
“In the eighth and ninth innings, I was feeling pretty confident,” Snell said on NBC Sports Bay Area after the win. “I was like, ‘Let’s go get it, we’re not going to waste any time here.'”
Naturally, Snell’s teammates were there to celebrate with him, though they went a little overboard at the water cooler during his postgame interview.
The no-hitter was the third of the season league-wide. San Diego Padres right-hander Dylan Cease threw one last month in their 3-0 win over the Washington Nationals. Astros pitcher Ronel Blanco started the year with a no-hitter on April 1 in a move that put him in the rotation in Houston.
Although the no-hitter was the 18th in Giants history, Snell’s was the first for the team in nearly a decade. Christ Heston had the last one for the Giants in June 2015. This was also just the second time the Reds were hurt by a no-hitter at home.
Snell threw 96 pitches in seven innings Friday night and it looked like there was a chance he would be bumped out of the final two. He had struck out nine and walked three to that point while holding the Reds scoreless. But Snell returned to the mound for the eighth inning and successfully kept his no-hit bid alive while recording his 10th strikeout of the night.
Despite never having reached the ninth inning in his career, and having already pitched 108 times that night, Snell came back for the final three outs and quickly disposed of the Reds. He struck out Santiago Espinal, and then Jonathan India grounded out to him. That sent Reds star Elly De La Cruz to the plate, who flied out to right field on the first pitch to complete the no-hitter.
Snell is in his first season with the Giants this summer. The two-time Cy Young Award winner entered the night with an 0-3 record and a 5.10 ERA in 10 starts over just under 48 innings pitched. He has been on the injured list several times this season, first for a left adductor strain and again for a groin injury.
“The way I’ve felt the last four starts, I knew I was getting somewhere. I knew I was getting better,” Snell said. He said on NBC Sports Bay Area“I didn’t know that was going to happen. It’s the first time I’ve played nine innings, what a way to do it.”
The Giants took a 2-0 lead after the second inning Friday night on a solo homer by Casey Schmitt and an RBI double by Tyler Fitzgerald. Then in the seventh, Fitzgerald hit a solo homer of his own to extend the Giants’ lead to three.
The Giants have won six of their last seven games and are close to getting back to .500 on the season. They have a 55-56 record after the win and are nine games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West standings. They are 4.5 games out of the final NL wild-card spot.
The Giants have two games left in their three-game series with the Reds, who have now lost four of their last six games and are last in the NL Central standings.