Blake Snell made his Cy Young case in a rather emphatic manner Tuesday, no-hitting the Rockies for seven innings at Petco Park as part of a dramatic 2-0 walk-off win.
Reliever Robert Suarez kept Colorado in check in the eighth, but closer Josh Hader gave up a leadoff single to Brendan Rodgers to open the ninth, ending the team’s shot at the second no-hitter in Padres history.
The combined no-hitter would have been the first such feat at home as Joe Musgrove no-hit Texas in Arlington two years ago.
But if the Padres couldn’t treat the crowd of nearly 40,000 at Petco to a no-no, how about a walk-off home run?
Xander Bogaerts obliged, taking Tyler Kinley deep to left with two out in the ninth. The ball slipped just over the fence below the Western Metal Supply building – Bogaerts took a long look at the ball from the plate, unsure if he’d hit it far enough – setting off an ecstatic celebration as the Padres won their sixth straight.
It was a struggle to that point though – the Friars may have offered up some outstanding pitching, but so did Colorado.
Rockies pitchers held the home team to three hits through seven innings, but the Padres had a golden chance to score in the eighth, following a double by Fernando Tatis Jr. and two walks.
Yet Tatis, after stealing third, was thrown out at the plate on a bouncer to third baseman Ryan McMahon, and Jurickson Profar, with a chance to gain a little revenge against the team that released him in August, bounced back to the mound for an inning-ending double play.
The Padres got Hader off the hook in the ninth with a double play of their own, started by Bogaerts, setting up up the shortstop for his late-inning heroics.
But the Friars couldn’t have gotten there without Snell, who struck out 10 and walked four while allowing no hits. Despite his dominant performance, both he and manager Bob Melvin said it wasn’t hard to make the decision to end Snell’s night.
Snell, who had thrown more than 100 pitches when he left the game, called a no-hitter an “amazing accomplishment,” but not one for which he was willing to risk his health.
“I understand my body really well,” he said. “With how hard I was throwing today, it’s not worth it.”
“He hasn’t thrown over 100 pitches very often (and) to try to get through two more innings would have been a stretch,” Melvin said. “So he was pretty realistic and agreed.”
But National League Cy Young voters will surely take notice, as Snell has gone 3-0 in his last four starts – Hader got the win Tuesday – with a 0.72 ERA. His stellar September has set him apart from Arizona’s Zac Gallen and Atlanta’s Spencer Strider, who both have bloated ERAs this month, and Chicago’s Justin Steele, with a 3.00 ERA in his past three starts.
For Bogaerts, here’s no question about what Snell has done for the Padres in 2023.
“That’s a stretch of dominance by a starting pitcher … ” he said on-air after his walk-off homer. “It’s pretty special to be behind him on the field.”
