Giants pitcher Blake Snell leaves game with groin tightness, appears to return to injured list

SAN FRANCISCO — Giants pitcher Blake Snell appears to be headed to the injured list for the second time this season after leaving Sunday’s game against the New York Yankees with tightness in his left groin.

A similar injury left Snell on the IL for a month this year when he was sidelined with a left adductor strain. The two-time Cy Young Award winner will have an MRI on Monday.

“The feeling is the same, so we’ll see,” Snell told reporters at Oracle Park. “The MRI will tell us and we’ll go from there. It’s definitely a bummer and frustrating, but we have to look at what’s next and attack, improve and get back on the field.”

Snell threw 99 pitches. The 31-year-old lefty was out on a 1-1 count on Alex Verdugo with the bases loaded and two strikeouts in the fifth inning.

“I don’t think he’s any worse than last time, but I don’t know how it’s not an IL (situation),” San Francisco coach Bob Melvin said after his team’s 7-5 defeat.

Snell is 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA in six starts for San Francisco since signing a two-year, $62 million contract as a free agent. He won the 2023 NL Cy Young Award with San Diego.

He missed most of spring training after signing on March 19, then was on the injured list from April 23 to May 22. He also spent a few days on the paternity list awaiting the birth of his first child and was unable to do so. return to normal since then.

Snell gave up Juan Soto’s solo home run in the first inning Sunday, then weaved through traffic in each of the next three innings. He didn’t last five innings in any of his six starts with San Francisco, and his ERA is the highest among Giants pitchers still on the roster.

Before the latest setback, though, Snell felt he was on the right track.

“A lot of good things have been happening the last few weeks and I was like, OK, it’s coming,” Snell said. “We will get there. May I stay here. I learned a lot about this year that will help me get back to it faster and start mastering it. It’s a shame this happened, but it happened, so face it head on, attack it and come back.

Snell said this is the fourth or fifth time in the last three or four years that he has suffered a groin injury.

“What I’m doing, I need to change something or add something,” he said. “I definitely have to add something strengthening that I haven’t been doing so I can get my muscles even more prepared for 100 shots per game. I have a lot to learn, but I definitely need to get stronger and make sure this stops happening.”

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