Blake Snell has thrown the 18th no-hitter in Giants franchise history.
The left-hander's dominant stretch continued with a historic outing in San Francisco's 3-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night at Great American Ball Park, cementing Snell's spot in the MLB record books.
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Cincinnati's only baserunners of the evening came via three walks, with Reds hitters otherwise hopeless at the plate as Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, mowed down batter after batter to earn his first win in a Giants uniform -- and in grand fashion.
Snell's masterpiece outing comes less than one month after he nearly tossed a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins, with the lefty taking it across the finish line this time to secure baseball immortality. It also remarkably marked the first time in Snell's nine-year MLB career that he pitched into the ninth inning.
Snell joined NBC Sports Bay Area's "Giants Postgame Live" after completing the no-hitter, and revealed he sensed he was on the cusp of greatness as the end of the game inched closer.
"The eighth [inning], ninth [inning] I was pretty confident," Snell said. "I was like, 'Let's go get it. We're not just going to waste our time here.' "
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Despite many teams displaying heavy trade interest in Snell, San Francisco opted to retain him, and the team immediately was vindicated in his first appearance since Tuesday's MLB deadline.
Turning in a historic performance on the heels of immense trade speculation wasn't lost on Snell, who expressed his joy to remain with the Giants rather than be dealt elsewhere.
"I was happy," Snell said on "Giants Postgame Live." "I wanted to stay, so to do that is pretty amazing."
Despite it being the deepest that Snell had ever gone in an MLB start, Giants manager Bob Melvin had no plans of removing the lefty, even as his pitch count progressed and fatigue began to set in.
"He was a little bit tired, and he's never been in the ninth inning before, but there comes a point in time where it's kind of destiny for him, especially with the way he's been throwing," Melvin told reporters after the win. "That's as nervous as I've been in a long time. I wanted that for him so bad.
"If anybody has the stuff to know they're throwing a no-hitter, it's Blake Snell, and finally came through, pitched nine innings [of] no-hit ball. So, he's got that feather in his cap, which is pretty cool."
Snell's incredible performance comes on the heels of teammate Logan Webb's scoreless outing Wednesday, marking the first time that Giants pitchers have thrown complete-game shutouts in back-to-back contests since Livan Hernandez and Jason Schmidt did it in August 2002.
As San Francisco fights for a spot in the MLB playoffs, Snell is heating up at just the right time, with opposing hitters recording just eight hits in 103 at-bats against him over his last five starts.
For now, Snell and the Giants can relish the moment as they celebrate an evening they'll remember for the rest of their lives.
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