Snell has his best start of season as Padres down Mets

The Blake Snell the Padres invested in showed up at Petco Park on Friday night.

The left-hander pitched seven shutout innings, and the Padres beat the Mets 2-0 for their team-record 12th consecutive home victory.

“I just needed a start like this to feel that fire, just kind of feel what it’s like to be myself again,” Snell said. “… I kept telling everybody I was going to be fine.”

Snell did not allow a hit until Francisco Lindor’s single leading off the seventh inning. That hit resulted in Lindor sliding into third base after the ball skipped past left fielder Tommy Pham.

It was the third time in his career Snell lost a no-hitter on the first batter of the seventh inning.

More importantly for the Padres, Snell stomped off the mound jabbing his arms through the air and yelling after his 101st pitch completed the seventh inning with his 10th strikeout. He had stranded Lindor by getting a strikeout, a pop fly and another strikeout.

“I just said, ‘This is my night, I’m not letting no one go across that plate,’ ” Snell said after the game. “That was the mindset.”

The Mets finished with three hits, the other two yielded by Mark Melancon in the ninth inning en route to earning his major league-leading 19th save.

Snell completed seven innings for the first time since April 2, 2019, a span of 43 regular season starts. The 2018 American League Cy Young award winner, acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in a December trade, had gone six innings once in his first 11 starts with the Padres. The pitcher who will make $39 million over this season and the next two hadn’t made it through four innings in either of his previous two starts and had failed to finish five innings in six starts.

“I didn’t even watch video on them or nothing,” Snell said. “That was the secret today — just pitch. I threw what I wanted to throw and made sure I threw strikes.”

That was the real secret.

“I think the secret was attacking the zone,” catcher Webster Rivas said.

Facing a team that entered the game seeing a major league-low 3.76 pitches per plate appearances, Snell threw 57 percent of his pitches in the strike zone Friday night, compared with the 41 percent he achieved through his first 11 starts.

“He was just around the zone and on the attack,” manager Jayce Tingler said. “… This was for sure his best outing so far.”

While the Padres started the lefty they got this offseason to help make them a championship contender, the Mets started the lefty the Padres got rid of this offseason.

Manny Machado’s 391-foot line drive to the second deck of seats beyond left field was the only damage done off Joey Lucchesi, who led the Padres with 58 starts from 2018-20. He was part of a three-team trade in January in which the Padres got Joe Musgrove from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Reliever Jacob Barnes replaced Lucchesi with two outs in the fifth with runners on second and third and got Pham on a comebacker to the mound.

Machado also “drove in” the Padres’ other run, drawing a bases-loaded walk against Jeurys Familia in the seventh inning.

The Padres had just six hits and were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

This was Snell’s night.

Snell, who carried a 5.55 ERA and 1.60 WHIP into Friday, retired 14 straight to start the game before issuing a walk. He had not previously made it through three innings without allowing a baserunner this season. Friday was just the second time he made it through the first three innings without allowing a run.

But he was working fast and throwing fast Friday.

He threw his fastball 60 percent of the time, 15 percent more than he had in his first 11 starts. He was still consistently above 96 mph and hit 98 mph in the fifth inning. His final pitch was 97 mph. He averages 95.4 mph on his fastball this season and has consistently reached 97, but he seemed to consistently have an extra gear Friday.

“I was just pissed off from the start,” he said. “I was mad.”

Shortly after the game, he was already looking ahead.

“Now I’ve got to keep it going,” Snell said. “I need to get better from it. I just felt good. I felt good this whole time. It’s been frustrating. I’m happy to finally have a good one.”

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