Snell was “feeling good” after his dominant performance against the Twins, according to NBC Sports Bay Area.
SAN FRANCISCO — In a season that was nothing like what was expected, it was oddly unsurprising that Blake Snell played his best game in a Giants uniform and still got nothing out of it.
Snell, who resembles a pitcher with two Cy Young Awards on his resume, was in dominant form Sunday against the Minnesota Twins, pitching a perfect game through the seventh inning in the Giants’ 3-2 win in San Francisco’s final game before the All-Star break.
The only hit Snell allowed was a single to Manuel Margot in the leadoff of the seventh inning. Snell quickly induced a 6-4-3 double play to remove the runners from the bases, then struck out Brooks Lee swinging to end the inning.
The 80-pitch masterpiece was Snell’s best outing of the season and may be a sign that his season is finally starting to turn around.
“I feel good. I’m getting better,” Snell said in the Giants’ clubhouse at Oracle Park. “I found some good spots today with the consistency of my form and the repetition of it. I’m happy with the sequence, but there were some things I could have done better. But overall I’m happy and I feel good.”
Leading up to Sunday, there wasn’t much to feel good about for Snell or the Giants. The National League Cy Young Award winner entered this game with a whopping 7.85 ERA and had only managed to go five innings once in his previous seven starts.
Snell was on the verge of his first win with the Giants, but closer Camilo Doval gave up a run in the ninth inning to tie the score at 2-2.
“Good. How could it get any better?” Giants manager Bob Melvin said of Snell’s outing. “There really wasn’t any hard contact. Even (Margot’s) base hits were weak. But you could tell from the get-go that his mechanics were perfect. All of his pitches were on point. That’s what you expect with a healthy Blake Snell.”
“He was a bit shaky at the start (of the season) with injuries and stuff but now he’s really fit and confident. It was a great performance.”
It was Snell’s second consecutive good start. His start against the Twins came on the heels of five scoreless innings against the Toronto Blue Jays last Tuesday.
Snell’s ERA dropped from 9.51 to 6.31 during that time.
“He’s a great pitcher. I think he’s really finding his footing right now,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He’s pitching really well, so it’s going to unfold at times. You’re going to swing at pitches out of the zone against him. It’s not like you’re just going to keep throwing it endlessly, which you can’t do. We were ready to swing the bat, but we wanted him to take the lead, and he did. And when you take the lead, he’s very tough.”
“When you have one of the best pitchers in the league in front of you, it’s going to be a tough at-bat. That’s exactly what we saw today. He proved he can control the pitch early in the count, and that’s what happened.”
Mike Yastrzemski, who scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday, watched Snell patrol right field and saw a lot of familiar sights.
“He’s a player that we’re used to playing against and I know him well from that experience,” Yaz said. “It’s really good to see him doing well in the last two games and I think he can do a great job in the second half of the season.”
Snell, who missed all of spring training while pursuing a free-agent contract, feels more in tune with himself now and cited that, more than anything else, as a factor in his recent success.
“The more I throw, the more I’m finding out about myself and I think I’m getting better and better,” Snell said. “I had two good games, but I’m just happy to see myself getting better and getting my throws in sync and repeating. Mentally, I’m getting better, the way I talk and think.”
Snell acknowledged he was thinking about a perfect game but was OK if it didn’t happen. He believes Sunday’s overall effort will be a foundation for the second half of the season, when the Giants expect to add starting pitchers Alex Cobb and Robbie Ray to the rotation.
“I’m really excited. I can’t wait,” Snell said. “We become a scarier, more dangerous team. We’re really in a good position to have a chance to make the playoffs.”
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