The Giants took game one of this double-header against the Rockies on the back of a historic start from Blake Snell.
The San Francisco Giants took game one of Saturday’s double-header against the Colorado Rockies, 4-1.
The story of the day was Blake Snell, who showed exactly why he is the reigning Cy Young Award winner. Snell went six innings, in which he allowed just two hits and two walks, while striking out 15.
The last Giants pitcher to strike out 15 was Tim Lincecum, exactly 15 years ago today. On top of that, Snell is the first pitcher in MLB history to do so in six or fewer innings. It was a spectacular start, soured only slightly by a lack of run support early in the game.
Things started off strong in the first inning, with Snell striking out the first batter he faced in three pitches. He got into a bit of trouble after that, after Brenton Doyle hit a double over the head of Heliot Ramos, and Brendan Rodgers followed that up with a walk. But Snell righted the ship and got out of the inning after a line out and another strikeout.
He got the Rockies to go down in order in the second, with two more strikeouts and another in the top of the third before allowing his second hit of the game, another double, to Ezequiel Tovar. A wild pitch allowed Tovar to reach third, but it wouldn’t matter because Snell would go on to strikeout three in the inning.
He would improve upon that by striking out the side in the fourth, striking out two in the fifth while getting the Rockies out in order once again, and then striking out three in the sixth, after walking Tovar to start the inning.
It was a master class performance by Snell, who exited after the sixth inning because he was sitting at 103 pitches.
Meanwhile, unfortunately, it was the type of performance from the Giants offense that would feel familiar to the Lincecum of 2009. One in which the Giants didn’t exactly do them any favors on offense. Snell’s lone run of support came from a solo home run from Matt Chapman in the second.
Which isn’t to say they didn’t have plenty of opportunities, because they did. The first inning featured back-to-back walks for Jorge Soler and LaMonte Wade, Jr., who advanced on a ground-out by Ramos, but weren’t able to score.
Mike Yastrzemski followed up Chapman’s home run in the second with a triple, but was also stranded at third.
They had the makings of a rally in the fourth inning, after Michael Conforto lead things off by getting a free base after getting hit by a pitch. Chapman followed that up with a single, and Brett Wisely walked to load the bases for Soler with one out. Unfortunately that ended in a double play.
To add insult to injury, when Snell came out of the game, Ryan Walker almost immediately allowed a home run in the seventh that tied the game and removed any ability for Snell to get the win. Which feels like a crime after a start like that. But is very reminiscent of the years of Lincecum and Matt Cain pitching their absolute hearts out and only getting a loss for their trouble. So I guess we were going with a theme night.
Thankfully though, the Giants did not actually lose this game. But it seemed like the Rockies had to almost strong-arm them into taking the lead again.
With one out, Soler hit a ground ball to Tovar who not only fumbled the catch, he threw low to Michael Toglia who couldn’t make the catch, which allowed the ball to roll over into the dugout and allowed Soler to reach second. Toglia would receive a catching error for this, so Soler was not credited with anything except two free bases before being replaced by Derek Hill as a pinch-runner.
LaMonte Wade, Jr. was then hit by a pitch, which put two on for Patrick Bailey, who got the big hit of the inning with a double to left field that scored both Hill and Wade to put the Giants back in the lead.
They added on in the eighth with Matt Chapman once again in the mix, starting things off with a double off the left center field wall. Chapman took third on a throwing error from pitcher Peter Lambert on a pick-off attempt that was clearly not well thought out. Chapman was well off the base but so was Lambert’s throw. Lambert would then gift Chapman another 90 feet on a wild pitch that allowed him to score the Giants fourth and final run of the game.