Blake Snell’s first win with the San Francisco Giants was a historic one.
Snell threw a no-hitter on Friday night at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park to lead the Giants to a 3-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds. It marked the first no-hitter of his career and the 18th in Giants history.
Snell had 11 strikeouts and allowed just three runners on base via walks while throwing 114 pitches in the win. The 31-year-old had never made it through a full eight innings on the mound before Friday night, either, though he wasn’t bothered by it in the moment.
“In the eighth and ninth, I was pretty confident,” Snell said on NBC Sports Bay Area after the win. “I was like, ‘Let’s go get it, we’re not just going to waste our time here.'”
Naturally, Snell’s teammates were right there to celebrate with him — though they went a bit overboard with the water cooler during his postgame interview.
The no-hitter was the third of the season across the league. 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 played him into the rotation in Houston.
Though the no-hitter was the 18th in Giants history, Snell’s was the first for the team in nearly a full decade. Christ Heston had the last one for the Giants back in June 2015. This was also just the second time that the Reds have been on the wrong side of a no-hitter at home.
Snell had 96 pitches through seven innings on Friday night, and it seemed like there was a chance he could be pulled for the final two. He had nine strikeouts and had walked three batters up until that point while keeping the Reds scoreless. But Snell returned to the mound for the eighth inning and successfully kept his no-hit bid alive while picking up his 10th strikeout of the night.
Despite having never made it to the ninth inning in his career, and already being at 108 pitches on the night, Snell returned for the final three outs and made quick work of the Reds. He struck out Santiago Espinal, and then Jonathan India grounded out right to him. That sent Reds star Elly De La Cruz to the plate, and he 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 in just shy of 48 innings pitched. He’s been on the injured list multiple times this season, first with a left adductor strain and again with a groin injury.
“The way I’ve been feeling the last four starts, I knew I was getting somewhere. I knew I was getting better,” Snell said on NBC Sports Bay Area. “I didn’t know that was going to happen. First time going nine innings, what a way to do it.”
The Giants jumped up 2-0 after the second inning on Friday night thanks to a solo home run from Casey Schmitt and an RBI double from Tyler Fitzgerald. Then in the seventh, Fitzgerald hit his own solo home run to push the Giants’ lead to three.
The Giants have now won six of their last seven games and are nearly back to .500 on the season. They hold a 55-56 record after the win, and trail the Los Angeles Dodgers by nine games 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 sit in last in the NL Central standings.