CINCINNATI — Blake Snell was one out away from pitching the first no-hitter in his illustrious Major League Baseball career.
First, though, he had to get past Elly De La Cruz, the Cincinnati Reds’ power-hitting shortstop, one more time Friday night.
Cruz jumped on the San Francisco Giants ace’s first pitch of the at-bat, a 97.8 mph fastball in the middle of the strike zone, ripping it hard to the gap in right-center field. Right fielder Mike Yastrzemski — inserted for defensive purposes in the eighth inning — ran it down, leaping to make the catch, preserve Snell’s gem and close out San Francisco’s 3-0 win at Great American Ball Park.
Snell, a 31-year-old left-hander and the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, was mobbed by his teammates.
“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. I need to go home and let it sink in. I haven’t really processed the game.”
Snell (1-3) struck out 10 batters, walked three and threw 114 pitches, 78 of them strikes. He said he came into the ninth inning focused on 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 career starts in the majors, having never even pitched into the ninth inning as an MLB pitcher until Friday.
“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 comebacker 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 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.”
Melvin, 62, is in his first year with the Giants but spent the past two seasons with the San Diego Padres — the team Snell played for the past three years after spending his first five in the majors with the American League’s Tampa Bay Rays.
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.
AP photo by Jeff Dean / San Francisco Giants left-hander Blake Snell pitches during the sixth inning of Friday night’s game against the host Cincinnati Reds.Snell recorded the 18th no-hitter in franchise history and the third in the majors this season. Houston Astros right-hander Ronal Blanco threw one against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 1, and Padres righty Dylan Cease kept the Washington Nationals hitless on July 25, just eight days before Snell made it three in 2024.
“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.”
He pitched with a lead for most of the night, with Cody Schmitt hitting a two-out homer in the top of the second inning and Tyler Fitzgerald hitting an RBI double two batters later. Fitzgerald homered in the seventh for what proved to be the final margin.
Snell threw six perfect innings against the Minnesota Twins on July 14 before Manuel Margot singled leading off the seventh inning. In his most recent outing before Friday, Snell struck out 15 batters, yielding two hits through six innings against the Colorado Rockies.
Last year’s Cy Young Award was the second of his career — his first came with the Rays in 2018 — and made him the seventh player to win the award in both leagues. He signed a two-year, $62 million deal with the Giants before this season, when he spent extensive time on the injured list from April to July.
Snell became the fifth reigning Cy Young Award winner to throw a no-hitter, joining 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 until Friday was by Chris Heston on June 19, 2015, as they beat the New York Mets 5-0. The Reds had not been held hitless since May 17, 2019, when Mike Fiers pitched the Oakland Athletics to a 2-0 win.
Reds starter Andrew Abbott lasted just 4 1/3 innings Friday, allowing two runs and seven hits with eight strikeouts.
The possibility of perfection disappeared early for Snell, with Jeimer Candelario drawing a two-out walk on a 3-2 count in the second inning. Tyler Stephenson led off the fifth with a walk, though that was negated when Candelario, the next batter, lined into a double play. Another walk followed, this one to TJ Friedl, but Snell ended that threat with a flyout.
The Giants won for the sixth time in seven games and improved to 55-56; they haven’t been as good as .500 since they were 29-29 at the start of June. They sit fourth in the NL West Division standings, 8 1/2 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Reds, who have lost two straight and four of their past six games, fell to 52-57 and are at the bottom of the NL Central, 10 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers.
The second contest of the three-game series is set for Saturday night. The scheduled starters on the mound are Giants left-hander Kyle Harrison (6-4, 3.69 ERA) and Reds right-hander Hunter Greene (7-4, 2.97).