Blake Snell is a highly decorated left-hander with two Cy Young Awards to his name. But entering his start against the Reds at Great American Ball Park on Friday night, he had never pitched a complete game during his nine-year MLB career.
That changed in a big way on Friday, when on the heels of a historic start against the Rockies in his previous outing, Snell threw his first career no-hitter in the Giants’ 3-0 victory over Cincinnati.
What began as a difficult season for the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner -- he had a 9.51 ERA over his first six starts -- has become what the Giants hoped for when they signed Snell to a two-year, $62 million contract last offseason. Since returning from his second stint on the injured list on July 9, Snell has a 0.55 ERA with 41 strikeouts and 10 walks.
In the wake of his historic night in Cincinnati, here’s what to know about Snell’s no-hitter.
• The Giants made it a habit to throw no-hitters in the 2010s, but Snell became the first pitcher to throw one since Chris Heston on June 9, 2015. San Francisco threw no-hitters in four straight years from 2012-15, including Matt Cain’s perfect game in '12, Tim Lincecum’s no-hitters in '13 and ‘14 and Heston’s in ‘15.
• Snell was just coming off one of his best games in the Majors, striking out a career-high 15 batters against the Rockies on July 27 in San Francisco. With his no-hitter on Friday, Snell has tossed 15 scoreless innings with 26 strikeouts and just two hits allowed in his past two starts. Snell is just the third AL/NL pitcher since 1901 with 25-plus strikeouts, two hits or fewer and no runs allowed over a two-game span, joining Max Scherzer (June 14-20, 2015) and Randy Johnson (July 18-24, 2001) in doing so.
• Snell is also just the third AL/NL pitcher since 1900 to strike out 15 batters and throw a no-hitter in consecutive starts, joining James Paxton (May 2 and 8, 2018) and Scherzer (June 14 and 20, 2015), per ESPN Stats & Info.
• Snell has 26 strikeouts in his past two starts, tied with Madison Bumgarner (2015) and Jason Schmidt ('06) for second most by a Giants pitcher in a two-outing span since at least 1901, behind only John Montefusco, who had 27 in 1975.
• Although Snell's performance was a total show-stopper, he was following another Giants shutout thrown by Logan Webb on Wednesday against the A's. That made Webb and Snell the first set of Giants teammates to throw shutouts in consecutive team games since Livan Hernandez and Jason Schmidt on Aug. 19-20, 2002.
• Snell's slow start to the 2024 season might have left you to forget about his '23 NL Cy Young Award. Here's a reason to remember -- according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Snell is just the fifth reigning Cy Young Award winner to throw a no-hitter, joining the Cubs' Jake Arrieta ('15 NL), the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw ('13 NL), the Cardinals' Bob Gibson (1970 NL) and the Dodgers' Sandy Koufax (1963 NL).
• The Giants now have 18 no-hitters as a franchise, tying the Red Sox for the third most in MLB history. They trail only the Dodgers (23, since joining the NL in 1890) and the White Sox (20).
• As mentioned, Snell's first career no-hitter was also his first career complete game -- despite 2024 being his ninth Major League season. Because of his tendency to rack up strikeouts and walks alike, his longest outing before his masterpiece in Cincinnati lasted just 7 2/3 innings, way back on Aug. 25, 2021, for the Padres against the Dodgers.
• Before Snell had even gotten through the ninth, he'd already made some history. In completing eight innings for the first time in his 202nd Major League start, he ended the longest streak of starts of fewer than eight innings to start a career in MLB history, per Opta STATS.
• Snell's propensity for high pitch counts and early exits had bitten him previously in his quest for this first no-no, something that both Snell and the Giants' coaching staff were probably well aware of. In his three seasons with the Padres, Snell had twice worked seven hitless innings before being pulled due to an elevated pitch count -- on Aug. 31, 2021, against the D-backs and on Sept. 19, 2023, against the Rockies. The man faced with that difficult decision less than a year earlier -- then-Padres skipper Bob Melvin -- was the very same one who let Snell go the distance against the Reds, making for a nice full-circle moment.
• That's not to say Melvin's decision was shaping up to be an easy one. After six innings, Snell's pitch count had climbed to 87, making a solo effort seem unlikely. But he was extremely efficient over the final three frames, needing just 27 pitches over that span to complete the no-no. The 114 pitches Snell needed to get through nine innings fell just short of his career high (117, on Sept. 21, 2022, vs. the Cardinals).
• The last pitch Snell threw was a 97.8 mph fastball to Elly De La Cruz, who flied out to right field to end the game. Snell threw only two harder the entire contest. Both came in the third inning when he faced Santiago Espinal -- fastballs at 98.3 mph and 97.9 mph.