Blake Snell throws 1st career No-Hitter as Giants blank Reds

Blake Snell #7 (center) of the San Francisco Giants celebrates his first career no hitter after the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on August 02, 2024 in Cincinnati, Ohio.Jason Mowry/Getty Images

2024.08.02 – Blake Snell needed video proof to wrap his head around what had just happened, the two-time Cy Young award winner No-Hit the Cincinnati Reds in a 3-0 San Francisco Giants win on Friday night.

Snell was one out away from pitching the first no-hit game in his illustrious career and had to get power-hitting Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz one more time.

Cruz jumped on Snell’s first pitch, a 97.8 mph fastball in the middle of the zone, ripping it hard to the gap in right-center field. Giants right fielder Mike Yastrzemski — inserted for defensive purposes in the eighth inning — ran it down, leaping to make the catch and preserve Snell’s gem as he embrace on the mound with catcher Patrick Bailey.

The 31-year-old lefty, the league’s reigning Cy Young Award winner, was mobbed by his teammates. It was a third no-hitter in the majors this season.

“You’re so amped up in the last inning there, to be able to make that throw when you are trying to throw it as hard as you can to the plate,” Snell said.

“I’m still kind of in shock,” he said. “I need to go home and let it sink in. I haven’t really processed the game.”

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2024.08.02 (Giants vs. Reds) See Full Highlights

Blake Snell #7 of the San Francisco Giants celebrates his first career no hitter after the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on August 02, 2024 in Cincinnati, Ohio.Jason Mowry/Getty Images

2024.08.02 (Giants vs. Reds) See Full Highlights

Watch this video on YouTube

2024.08.02 (Giants vs. Reds) See Full Highlights

Snell (1-3) struck out 10 and threw 114 pitches, 78 of them strikes. He said he came into the ninth inning throwing strikes because he feared Giants manager Bob Melvin would remove him at 120 pitches. He wanted the complete game, something he’d never done in 202 major league starts.

“I knew in my head I had to get it over the plate,” he said. It took him 10 pitches to strike out Santiago Espinal and get Jonathan India on a come-backer before De La Cruz swung at the 11th.

Actually, Melvin said he was ready to pull Snell if he had allowed a hit in the ninth. He was watching Snell closely because the pitcher started developing a blister around the seventh inning.

“That’s as nervous as I had been in a long time,” Melvin said. “I wanted that for him so bad. If anybody has the stuff to throw a no-hitter, it’s Blake Snell.”

Snell was especially effective against the top of Cincinnati’s order, striking out India three times, and De La Cruz and Spencer Steer twice each.

Snell recorded the 18th no-hitter in Giants’ franchise history and the third in the majors this season. Houston’s Ronal Blanco no-hit Toronto on April 1, and San Diego’s Dylan Cease pitched a no-hitter against Washington on July 25.

“I don’t think it will be his only one,” said Reds pitcher Nick Martinez, who played with Snell in San Diego last season. “He was commanding the ball very well. It seemed like he didn’t miss a spot all night. He has some electric stuff.”

Casey Schmitt and Tyler Fitzgerald hit home runs to lend Snell all the run support he needed in the historic moment.

Snell threw six perfect innings against Minnesota on July 14, before the Twins’ Manuel Margot singled leading off the seventh inning. He struck out 15 in his last outing on July 27, yielding two hits through six innings.

2024.08.02 – Giants vs. Reds (NBC Sports: Post Recap)

San Francisco Giants’ Tyler Fitzgerald hits an RBI double during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean) Jeff Dean/Associated Press

2024.08.02 – Giants vs. Reds (NBC Sports: Post Recap)

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2024.08.02 – Giants vs. Reds (NBC Sports: Post Recap)

He won the Cy Young Award while playing for San Diego last season after winning it in 2018 as a Tampa Bay Ray. He became the seventh player in major league history to win the award in both leagues. He signed a two-year, $62 million deal with the Giants before the season.

Snell became the fifth reigning Cy Young Award winner to throw a no-hitter, along with Jake Arrieta (2016), Clayton Kershaw (2014), Bob Gibson (1971) and Sandy Koufax (1964), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The last no-hitter for the Giants was by Chris Heston on June 19, 2015, as San Francisco beat the New York Mets 5-0.

On today’s game, Snell continued to pound the zone with his electric four-seam fastball and curveball while mixing in a lethal changeup and slider in Cincinnati, striking out 11 while walking three on 114 pitches. In his past five starts, he’s given up two earned runs over 33 innings (0.55 ERA) with 41 strikeouts. He’s given up two or fewer hits in four of those five starts.

“There comes a point in time where it’s kind of destiny for him,” said manager Bob Melvin. “Especially the way he’s been throwing.”

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2024.08.02 – Giants vs. Reds (Locked On: Post Recap)

San Francisco Giants’ Blake Snell #7 pitching during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean) Jeff Dean/Associated Press

2024.08.02 – Giants vs. Reds (Locked On: Post Recap)

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2024.08.02 – Giants vs. Reds (Locked On: Post Recap)

Snell waded into uncharted waters and rode the waves without a hitch. He pitched beyond the eighth inning for the first time in his nine-year career and came out of it having accomplished something only few pitchers in baseball history have. On his mind as the no-hitter sunk in was his reputation for delivering short outings, especially after he was pulled having thrown 73 pitches in the 2020 World Series with Tampa Bay.

“They can’t say it anymore,” Snell said. “Complete game. Shutout. No-hitter. Leave me alone. ‘You don’t go to the eighth. Don’t go to the ninth.’ You know how good that feels? Just did it. Leave me alone.”

“There’s always been a bunch of crap about him not going deep into games and we were joking about how we’re going to go nine shutty together,” Bailey said. “One of us was like, ‘Why not just throw a no-hitter? ’”

Snell and Bailey manifested this moment early this season, when the battery mates first started to get on the same page after Snell signed late in spring as a free agent. Fueling this historic moment was a promise the new teammates made each other to relieve Snell of that reputation.

With Snell’s no-hitter and Logan Webb’s shutout Wednesday against the Oakland Athletics, the Giants have back-to-back shutouts by its starting pitchers for the first time since Jason Schmidt and Liván Hernández did it in 2002.

“The bullpen gets a three-day vacation,” Snell said. “I didn’t see that coming.”

The Reds were last no-hit on May 17, 2019, by Mike Fiers of the Oakland A’s in a 2-0 loss.

Reds starter Andrew Abbott lasted just 4 1/3 innings in Friday’s game, allowing two runs and seven hits. He struck out eight.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Reds: Activated from the 10-day injured list C Luke Maile (herniated disc). … Emilio Pagán (right lat strain) is a Triple-A Louisville for rehab stint.