It would not be accurate to say something is wrong with Blake Snell. But it would also not be accurate to say he’s 100% right.
Snell was on the mound to start a 3-game series against the Giants on Friday night in San Francisco. He only gave up one hit in 4.2 innings … but allowed four runs because of six walks and the Padres lost to the Giants 5-4.
The only hit Snell allowed was an opposite field home run by Buster Posey in the 3rd inning. It was a 2-run shot because Snell had walked Giants pitcher Anthony DeSclafani to start the inning.
In the 5th, Snell walked Posey and Austin Slater so Padres skipper Jayce Tingler removed him in favor of Austin Adams, who promptly hit Mike Yastrzemski to load the bases. Evan Longoria followed with a single that brought in two runs, both charged to Snell.
Up to that point the Padres offense had done absolutely nothing against DeSclafani. The bats suddenly woke up in the 6th inning. Trent Grisham hit a 2-run home run to centerfield to cut the lead in half. Three batters later Eric Hosmer smoked another 2-run shot to center to tie it up and get Snell off the hook.
After that the bad luck started.
Catcher Austin Nola took a pitch off the back of his left hand. He took 1st base but didn’t come out for the next inning. The TV cameras got a shot of Nola’s hand with serious swelling below the middle finger, the same finger that was broken by a foul tip in Spring Training that caused him to miss the first month of the regular season.
In the 7th inning Keone Kela came on and gave up a solo homer to Austin Slater that put the Giants up 5-4. He threw a few more pitches then was removed in the middle of an at-bat against Brandon Crawford with an injury that was not immediately identified.
Since the start of the 2020 season, San Diego has more comeback wins than any team in baseball but they couldn’t find late magic this time.
The Giants pump their lead over the Padres to 1.5 games. Same two teams get at it again on Saturday afternoon with Joe Musgrove getting the start against Kevin Gausman.
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