Breaking down the good and bad of Snell’s return to the Giants’ rotation originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
What deserves more recognition later the Giants’ 9-5 victory in 10 innings over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night at PNC Park is San Francisco’s resilience.
The Giants saw a four-run lead slip through their fingertips on Tuesday night in a 7-6 loss in 10 innings, and in 24 hours the Pirates script changed. They were once down 5-0 after a disastrous five-run fourth inning at Pittsburgh, but they pulled away and never relented. The Giants scored one run in the fifth, two in the sixth, one in the eighth, one in the ninth and four in the 10th.
How can we not talk about LaMonte Wade Jr. reaching base in all six plate appearances, going 3-for-3 with three walks? What about Matt Chapman homering for the second game in a row to continue his hitting streak? There’s also Patrick Bailey’s three-hit night, Jorge Soler hitting a season-high three runs while going 2-for-4, Randy Rodriguez striking out four in two innings out of the bullpen and more.
But the story, even after the Giants’ victory, was the return of starting pitcher Blake Snell. Last year’s NL Cy Young Award winner returned to the big leagues for the first time in over a month, April 19, and the results weren’t very good. Snell’s final line was four earned runs on four hits in 3 1/3 innings.
Both Snell and manager Bob Melvin were much happier with the pitcher’s process compared to the box score. There were good and bad things about Snell’s return, so let’s take a look at both to make a final assessment of Snell’s first start in nearly five weeks.
The good
Snell expected to throw about 75 pitches and instead threw a season-high 87. His velocity was in line with what it has been all season, averaging 95.3 mph on his four-seam fastball and topping out at 96.9 mph. Although Snell’s day ended quicker than he expected, it was quite unpleasant at times.
“His stuff was a lot better today,” Melvin told reporters.
To start the night, Snell struck out Andrew McCutchen with a 95 mph fastball up and out of the strike zone. Three of the first six batters he faced resulted in strikeouts, and all three outs in the second inning were strikeouts. Snell recorded two strikeouts on his curveball, two on his fastball and one on a wicked slider.
The Pirates swung and missed 15 times in Snell’s short start. Here is an example of his wickedness, as mentioned before.
“The Velo was a little louder, the breaking balls were sharper,” Melvin said. “He was throwing strikes with them, he just got a little tired and they made him throw some pitches. quality of things.”
The evil
Although Snell managed to reach 87 pitches, he only recorded 10 strikeouts. McCutchen was the last batter of the night he faced. A seven-pitch at-bat ended when Snell hit McCutchen in the foot with the bases loaded to bring in the first run of the night. In came Sean Hjelle, who gave up a grand slam to the first batter he faced.
Snell had already walked two and hit one in that ugly fourth inning. His first two pitches of the night were balls, and that set the tone for the rest of his game. Snell constantly put himself in bad situations. He faced a three-ball count eight times and was at 2-2 when he dropped McCutchen.
In Snell’s two minor league rehab appearances, he walked just one batter and struck out another while recording 17 strikeouts. Then, in his return to the big leagues, Snell struck out a season-high four batters, as well as one hit by the pitch, and threw a wild pitch.
As he displayed a few times throughout the night, Snell has some of the most dominant stuff in games by any starter. His control issues overshadowed that talent in the Giants’ victory.
“The results will come,” Snell said.
The Performance
Mentioning that he was “battling things,” Snell also revealed to reporters that he developed a blister on his foot early in the second inning. Snell needed just 16 pitches to get through the first inning, but then 24 in the second, 22 in the third and 24 in the fourth before leaving for good.
Snell’s strikeouts had the same kind of sharpness that led him to win his second Cy Young last season. Melvin, his manager in San Diego last year, saw that on Wednesday. So did Snell himself.
He said he “felt a lot better” than he had in the previous three games, despite another game where the numbers didn’t look as good. Snell’s ERA dropped from 11.57 to 11.40. He is also now striking out a career-high 5.4 batters per nine innings and has yet to pitch five innings.
Snell in his four starts for the Giants failed to pitch four innings half the time.
There were moments reminiscent of an ace, one of the best arms in baseball. There were others where it looked like Snell, which didn’t sign with the Giants Even nine days before Opening Day, he’s still dusting off his left shoulder. From the man himself, Snell’s ineffective performance was highlighted by positives that moved him in the right direction.
“I’m not worried,” Snell said. “I like where I am. I like the feeling of the ball leaving my hand. I like how I can locate. … I am confident.”
