What we learned as Giants waste Snell’s gem, lose to Braves in extras

What we learned as Giants waste Snell’s gem, lose to Braves in extras originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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SAN FRANCISCO — Monday night’s Giants game matched last season’s NL Cy Young Award winner up against this season’s frontrunner. It somehow exceeded the hype.

For the first time since 2010, both starting pitchers in a game at Oracle Park reached double-digit strikeouts. Blake Snell and Chris Sale combined for 23 of them, and neither allowed a run in a game that was scoreless into extra innings.

It was a throwback, but that didn’t favor the Giants, who must win behind their pitching in the second half. They were shut out by the Atlanta Braves, falling 1-0 on the first night of a crucial four-game series.

The first and only run came with the help of the free runner on second base. Travis d’Arnaud’s sacrifice fly got the Braves on the board in the 10th, but Mike Yastrzemski‘s running catch in right prevented further damage.

The Giants got their own free runner in the bottom of the inning, but Yastrzemski and Marco Luciano struck out before Patrick Bailey‘s game-ending liner to left.

In his first home start since he no-hit the Cincinnati Reds, Snell again flirted with history. He took a no-hitter into the seventh, but Marcell Ozuna dug out a low curveball and looped a double down the left field line. Matt Olson followed with an infield single on a slow dribbler.

Snell’s only issue was a high pitch count, and that ended his night after he followed the Olson single with his third strikeout of Orlando Arcia. Snell threw 114 pitches, tying the season-high he set in Cincinnati.

Unhittable

Snell had a 9.51 ERA when he returned from the IL on July 9. It’s now down to 3.91.

The lefty went 6 1/3 innings, continuing a stretch that is about as good as this storied franchise has ever seen. Over his last seven starts, Snell has allowed fewer than three hits five times. He has given up five total runs since coming off the IL, and in five of those seven starts, he has walked off the mound with a zero on the scoreboard.

The latest gem came against a Braves lineup that had eight right-handed hitters and four players at the top who have combined for 89 home runs this season. Once again, Snell leaned heavily on his curveball, which had held hitters to a .089 average coming into the game.

Snell threw 39 of them at the Braves and got eight swinging strikes. Over his last seven starts, he has 56 swings and misses with the curveball alone.

Snell … Sale … Strikeouts

Through the first five innings, Snell had two different stretches of four consecutive strikeouts, but Sale was with him step for step. Sale struck out five straight at one point and finished with a season-high 12, edging Snell.

For Snell, it was the 33rd double-digit strikeout game of his MLB career and third as a Giant. All three have come in his last four starts, and he has 45 in 27 1/3 innings going back to July 27, the day he whiffed 15 Colorado Rockies.

Entering the night, Snell was third in K/9 among MLB pitchers who have thrown at least 60 innings this season. Chicago White Sox lefty Garrett Crochet leads the majors and Sale leads the National League.

Like Snell, Sale reached double-digits in the sixth inning, when he struck out the side while facing the top of the Giants order. This was his fourth time this season striking out at least 10.

The last time both starters reached double-digits at Oracle Park was April 28, 2010, when Tim Lincecum had 11 and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels had 10. It did, however, happen in a Giants game just a year ago. In the 2023 opener at Yankee Stadium, Logan Webb struck out 12 and Gerrit Cole got 11.

Welcome Back

Giants manager Bob Melvin said he was looking forward to saying hello to Jorge Soler, noting that both players San Francisco sent to Atlanta — Soler and reliever Luke Jackson — were good clubhouse guys. Both spent plenty of time before the game catching up with former teammates, but only Soler saw the field during the game. He had an up-and-down return.

Soler hit leadoff and played left field, the latter being something he never did this season for the Giants. He drew a leadoff walk in the first and walked again in the third, but he popped out in the sixth and struck out in the eighth.

Soler wasn’t tested in left until the 10th, when Bailey’s liner headed his way. He made it look easy, clinching the win for his new team.

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