Snell tosses 10th no-hitter in Giants history

CINCINNATI — For about a month now, any ballpark Blake Snell has pitched in has been on no-hitter alert until it’s not.

This time, in front of 28,075 on a muggy Friday evening at Great American Ballpark, there was no reason to stand down. No seeing-eye singles. No mistakes to be taken advantage of. Barely even a first-pitch ball to be looked at. No hits at all, and hardly any contact to speak of, period.

Inserted as a defensive replacement the inning prior, Mike Yastrzemski raised his arms into the air as he gloved Elly De La Cruz’s line drive into the right-center-field gap for the 27th and final out, before the real celebration began with the rest of Snell’s teammates mobbing him on the mound.

Striking out 11 batters and walking three, Snell needed 114 pitches to complete the 10th no-hitter in the Giants’ San Francisco history and beat the Reds, 3-0.

It was the first no-hitter by a Giants pitcher since Chris Heston beat the Mets on June 9, 2015, and it felt inevitable.

Since returning from a groin strain on July 9, Snell has allowed two runs on eight hits in 33 innings. He blanked the Blue Jays for five innings in his first start back, took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning in their final game before the All-Star break and set a career-high with 15 strikeouts over six scoreless innings his last time out against the Rockies.

An ERA that stood at 9.51 when he landed on the injured list for a second time June 2 has been halved in the span of five starts.

It wasn’t the first time Snell didn’t allow a hit in a start, but it was the first time he took his no-hit bid to the finish line.

On his way to winning the Cy Young with the Padres last season, manager Bob Melvin pulled Snell after seven no-hit innings and 104 pitches; in 2021, he also departed despite not surrendering a hit through seven innings with his pitch count at 107. In 201 previous career starts, he had never completed more than 7 2/3 innings.

Through seven Friday night, Snell was at 96 pitches. He required a career-high 114 to go all the way, 78 for strikes. He threw first-pitch strikes to all but four batters he faced, including the first 13 to come to the plate through the first four innings. He fell behind 1-0 to the first batter of the fifth inning, Tyler Stephenson, and temporarily lost his command, issuing a pair of walks, but still escaped unscathed thanks to Casey Schmitt’s quick instincts to double up Stephenson after gloving a line drive.

The official definition of hard contact is when a ball is struck at 95 mph or harder, and the line drive that found the back of Schmitt’s mitt at second base left Jeimer Candelario’s bat was the Reds’ hardest-hit ball of the night — at 94.5 mph. Schmitt fired the ball to first base just in time to beat Stephenson diving back to the bag.

Between Snell’s effort and Logan Webb’s complete game shutout Wednesday to beat the A’s, the Giants have gotten 17 scoreless innings from their starting pitchers and needed minimal offensive contributions to start a two-game winning streak.

With three runs on nine hits, the Giants matched their scoring output from their past two games against Oakland.

While newcomers Mark Canha and Jerar Encarnacion made their debuts, it was the Giants’ class of rookies who continued to provide the offensive spark. Casey Schmitt opened a 1-0 lead with a 420-foot solo shot in the second inning, and Tyler Fitzgerald singled home Marco Luciano to make it 2-0.

Finishing with three hits, Fitzgerald padded the Giants’ lead with a second home run — his 10th of the season — to make it 3-0 in the seventh.

Notable

It was Snell’s first time pitching at Great American Ballpark, checking off his 30th and final active major league ballpark.