SAN FRANCISCO – Blake Snell knew his afternoon was over even as he stared in at his final hitter of the afternoon. Having seen his pitch count spike to 42 in the first inning of the Giants' 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday, Snell saw no reason to try to continue his shift on the mound.
The 2023 NL Cy Young Award winner knew better. He had thrown a 40-pitch inning against the Seattle Mariners earlier this season and came back out for another inning but was gassed and didn’t last much longer.
That made the decision to call it a day fairly easy.
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“Forty-two (pitches) is too much,” Snell said postgame. “The Seattle game kind of taught me that. Went back out but it was kind of stupid. Even the last (Arizona) batter I knew that was going to be it. Not smart to go back out. I’ve done it before, but I never felt good after.
“It’s just a lot of risk and not a lot of reward.”
That’s sort of a synopsis of Snell’s first season with the Giants. San Francisco’s most prized offseason acquisition who was supposed to pair with ace Logan Webb to form a dominant 1-2 pitching punch, Snell’s season got off to a slow and ragged start and has been mostly up and down since.
The high point was Snell’s first career no-hitter, a gem against the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 2 that seemed to signal that he had rediscovered his dominant rhythm on the mound. But the 31-year-old left-hander has had just one victory in six starts since then.
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Thursday’s dismal outing against the Diamondbacks sunk Snell’s season to a new low. It was the first time he lasted only one inning since 2021, and it marked the most pitches Snell has thrown in one inning since he needed 43 to get out of the fourth inning against Cleveland on Aug. 24, 2022.
Snell didn’t get much help from his teammates, either. He gave up only one hit but the Giants committed an error behind him, and catcher Patrick Bailey allowed a third strike to slip past him for a wild pitch that scored a run.
“Just threw a lot of pitches,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “We didn’t play defense very well behind him either. That kind of added up. Those things tend to spiral in the first inning.”
San Francisco’s bullpen literally saved the day with a yeoman’s effort by five relievers, who combined to keep the Diamondbacks in check over the final eight innings.
While frustrated over his brief day of work, Snell didn’t appear overly concerned about it. As he put it, most of the damage against him in the inning was self-inflicted.
“It’s not like they were teeing off on me to where it’s more like, ‘Are you tipping (pitches)? How is your sequencing?’ ” Snell explained. “Just gotta get the fastball in the zone a little more. It’s tough to be so critical on myself right now. It wasn’t like the fourth inning. It was the first inning, we’re getting it going.
“I feel good, stuff felt good. It was just a weird inning. They didn’t hit the ball, deeper counts, but it’s all I think just fastball command. It’s frustrating because obviously I want to go six or seven. Not doing that is not helping the team.”
Snell’s timing could have been a bit better. The brutal start came hours after the Giants announced a contract extension for Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman, who inked his name to a six-year, $151 million extension.
Securing Chapman for the near future was one of the main priorities for Giants general manager Farhan Zaidi.
The question now becomes whether Snell will get similar treatment or will San Francisco allow him to go into the offseason when he can exercise an out in his contract to become a free agent.
Zaidi and Snell’s agent, Scott Boras who also represents Chapman, talked around the issue earlier in the day and didn’t give an indication one way or the other.
Snell, though, made it clear that his focus is not on an extension. Not yet anyway.
“A deal would be nice but I think just finishing the season strong, focusing on that, is probably most important to me,” Snell said. “If that’s something they want to talk about, I’m always open to it. I’ve enjoyed my time here a lot. I know fans have been hounding me about it but it’s up to them. I have nothing but good things to say.”
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