San Francisco Giants pitcher Blake Snell’s no-hitter on Friday also happened to be his first career complete game. The two-time Cy Young winner is not exactly used to pitching into the ninth, but had a funny way of fighting through that during his successful no-hit effort.
During his postgame interview with NBC Sports Bay Area, Snell admitted that he felt himself getting a bit tired around the seventh inning of his outing against the Cincinnati Reds. That was also when he realized he was working on a no-hitter, and very quickly told himself that he had better get himself going.
Webb and Harrison got the first hit of the night on Snell with the water cooler 😂 pic.twitter.com/aNdxuWH5ic
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) August 3, 2024
“In the seventh inning I felt a little tired,” Snell admitted. “Then I kind of looked at the scoreboard, and that’s how I noticed. I was like, ‘You better wake up.'”
Snell undoubtedly did wake up. After issuing a walk in the fifth, Snell did not allow another baserunner, and retired the Reds in order in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth innings. He even tallied a strikeout in the eighth and ninth, and wound up with 11 strikeouts on 114 pitches.
Believe it or not, Snell was available at the trade deadline for the right price. Nobody bit because of one major factor. Some contenders may regret that down the stretch.
