SAN FRANCISCO — Blake Snell tried shaking off the rust, but it looked superglued to his $62-million left arm.
Making his San Francisco Giants debut at Oracle Park on Monday night, Snell, the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner who didn’t sign with the Giants until March 19, looked like a pitcher making his first spring training start.
Except this one actually counted.
Snell couldn’t find the strike zone as he labored through three innings, throwing 39 strikes on 72 pitches before the Giants (4-7) pulled the plug in an eventual 8-1 loss to the Washington Nationals (4-6).
“It was just weird,” Snell said. “I haven’t faced any big league hitters. I was aware of that. I was being more careful than I usually would. I usually would just throw it over the plate and let it eat. But I haven’t faced big league hitters so, I don’t really know. And I was really amped up. I was really excited to pitch. Bad combination I guess.”
Before Monday, Snell hadn’t pitched in a big league game since last September, when he tossed six shutout innings against the Giants at Oracle Park while making his final start with the San Diego Padres.
A free agent for the first time in his career, the 31-year-old waited until late March to latch on with the Giants on a two-year contract. Signing him was “a big deal” in the Giants’ clubhouse, manager Bob Melvin said Monday. But Melvin was honest about the challenges facing Snell after he missed the entirety of spring training.
“It’s not ideal,” Melvin said.
Taking the mound to a warm applause at Oracle Park, which welcomed 25,582 fans on Monday but looked only half-full at first pitch, Snell began his Giants career with a 95-mph fastball against Jacob Young. He threw three heaters in a row, all above the zone, then moved the count full and earned his first strikeout with a changeup that evaporated beneath a helpless swing.
His changeup looked filthy at times, same with his slider and curveball, but he was too erratic to be effective. And without any help from home plate umpire Chris Guccione, Snell fell behind in the count against seven of the first 11 hitters he faced.
“Trying to nitpick too much instead of getting over the plate,” he said.
The Nationals put together a huge second inning without ever hitting a ball harder than 90 mph off the bat. Two walks, a bloop single, a slow roller and a double steal turned into three runs for the Nats, who wiped out the Giants’ early 1-0 lead.
Snell threw just 30 strikes on 59 pitches through the first two innings, but Melvin gave Snell one more chance to build some momentum in the third.
This time, Snell jumped ahead of all three batters, firing nine strikes on 13 pitches and striking out two in a squeaky-clean inning that ought to help him forget about the first two.
“I knew going out there, like, ‘c’mon, get it over the plate, start attacking,’” he said. “I was trying to do that the whole time. I was just really excited. Tried to do too much and it hurt me.”
In three innings of work, he surrendered three runs on three hits, two walks and a wild pitch.
“At least he’s off and running,” Melvin said. “More than anything, he needed to pitch in a game, a big league game with adrenaline and all that. Hopefully he can go a little bit farther in the next one.”
Snell also struck out five, including two against Joey Gallo, tempting him with high heaters above the zone, and two against Joey Meneses on a pair of sweeping curveballs near the dirt.
Overall, Snell generated 10 whiffs on 24 swings, a 42% whiff percentage that’s even better than his 37% mark last year, when he won the Cy Young and struck out a career-high 234 batters with a sparkling 2.25 ERA.
“I’m excited where I’m at, the way the ball’s coming out,” Snell said. “I’m only going to get better. It’s going to get more crisp. First game, happy it’s out of the way. A lot to learn from it. And really looking forward to what I’ll be able to do Sunday against Tampa.”
Snell’s first start wasn’t brilliant by any means, but his flashes of potency and veteran presence should at least give fans a reason to come to the ballpark every five days.
Snell joins Logan Webb as the Giants’ two must-see aces along with one in the making, Kyle Harrison, a closer-turned-starter Jordan Hicks and, at some point this season, All-Star Alex Cobb and 2021 American League Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray.
If only the Giants’ offense could get going.
They’ve mustered seven total runs in their last four games, going without a home run in all four.
“If we’re going to have big innings and score multiple runs in games when we’re down like this, we’re going to have to get big hits,” Melvin said. “We haven’t done that yet.”
Notable:
Jung Hoo Lee had the best game of his young career as the rookie singled and doubled to the opposite-field, drew a walk and scored the Giants’ only run on a nifty piece of baserunning when he went first to third on a bloop double, then advanced to home on a bad throw by left fielder Jesse Winker. Lee, a superstar in South Korea who signed a $113-million contract to join the Giants this season, is hitting .238 with a .639 OPS through his first 11 games.
Mike Yastrzemski went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and is now 1-for-20 (.050) with 11 strikeouts to start the year.
Getting only three innings out of Snell meant a long night for the Giants bullpen, which entered with a 25th-ranked 5.85 ERA and continued to struggle on Monday. Erik Miller allowed one run in 1-1/3 innings and Landen Roupp allowed two more, including a two-run homer to Lane Thomas, and Taiwanese rookie Kai-Wei Teng allowed two runs in 3-1/3 innings.
Michael Conforto was held out of the lineup with a sore side, but Melvin expects he’ll return to the lineup Tuesday against right-hander Josiah Gray. Conforto has reached safely in all 10 of his games this season while leading the team with three homers and 10 RBIs.
Patrick Bailey is struggling with his throwing accuracy. The Nationals stole four bases Monday, two on a double steal when Snell made an off-target throw in a rundown trying to catch a man at home, but Bailey has now caught just one attempted base-stealer in nine tries (11%). He caught 25 out of 88 (28%) last season.
The Giants went another game without successfully stealing a base of their own. They’re 0-for-2 in attempts this season.
Up next: LHP Harrison (1-1, 4.91 ERA) will take the mound against RHP Gray (0-2, 14.04 ERA) for a 6:45 p.m. PT start on Tuesday at Oracle Park.