Snell takes recent dominance up a notch
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SAN DIEGO -- In each of Blake Snell's first two seasons with the Padres, the All-Star break came and went, and only then did Snell truly press his foot to the gas. In the second halves of 2021 and '22, Snell was electric, the version of himself that took home a Cy Young Award with Tampa Bay in 2018.
Which raised the question: What if Snell could get things going sooner? What if the Padres could get the second-half version of Blake Snell in the first?
It might look something like this.
• Game Story: Batten cracks his first MLB homer ▶️
Snell capped a remarkable first half on Saturday night with perhaps his most dominant performance of the season, limiting the Mets to one hit across six scoreless innings in a 3-1 Padres victory at Petco Park. Snell struck out 11 and lowered his ERA to 2.85, punctuating a near-two-month stretch in which he has been, almost unquestionably, the best starter in baseball.
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In his last nine outings, Snell has permitted a grand total of four runs. His ERA in that span is 0.68. He was named National League Pitcher of the Month in June -- and has yet to allow a run in two starts in July. Snell takes a 16-inning scoreless streak into the All-Star break.
“Really good first half,” Snell said. “Got to put it together in the second half. Happy to build it sooner -- it means the offseason I had worked.”
As you might expect, Snell is headed to Seattle this week. But, no, not for the All-Star Game. Major League Baseball named four National League replacement pitchers for the Midsummer Classic on Saturday afternoon, and the Seattle native Snell was not among them.
“Congrats to those guys, they deserve it,” Snell said. “For me, obviously I want to play in that game, pitch in that game. So, that does suck. But I can’t control it. Just keep pitching.”
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Snell has made it clear how much he would’ve loved to have pitched in a hometown All-Star Game. He was 8 the last time Seattle played host. The Snells couldn’t get tickets, so Blake watched on TV.
More than two decades later, Snell appears set to miss out again (barring his being named as a late roster addition). Unjust, the Padres say -- and they have a case. Snell’s 2.85 ERA is by far the lowest mark for a qualifying starter who wasn’t named to an All-Star roster. He ranks second in the NL with 132 strikeouts and first in opponent batting average at .200.
“You feel like every time he takes the mound, and he goes out there with stuff like that, it’s dominant stuff,” said manager Bob Melvin. “You don’t want to think this way, but you know you’re not going to have to score too many runs when he’s pitching like that.”
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The Padres staked Snell to an early lead Saturday, scoring three times in the second inning, including two on Matthew Batten’s first career home run. The do-everything utility player was promoted earlier this week to give the Padres a more versatile bench after the team made the decision to designate Nelson Cruz for assignment. Batten started on Saturday because Ha-Seong Kim jammed his big toe kicking a water cooler in frustration the night before.
In his first big league at-bat of the season, Batten got a hanging 1-2 changeup from Mets left-hander David Peterson and sent it eight rows deep in left field.
“I didn’t feel anything off the bat,” Batten said. “And then running around the bases, it just didn’t feel real. ... Once I got to two strikes, that kind of settled me down, because I just simplified in my head, my approach. I was happy to get into one.”
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Ultimately, Batten’s homer proved decisive. It was plenty of support for a dominant Snell, who expertly mixed all four of his offerings across 105 pitches. His fastball averaged 95.2 mph, well above his season average. He induced whiffs at a clip of at least 50% with all three of his offspeed or breaking pitches.
“It is a true four-pitch mix now,” Melvin said. “When he’s throwing strikes and he’s throwing as hard tonight as we’ve seen him, man, you almost have to guess. … The only thing that keeps him from going into that seventh inning is striking so many guys out.”
Leading off that seventh inning, Luis García surrendered a solo home run to Francisco Alvarez, but the Mets did little else against the San Diego bullpen. Nick Martinez struck out all three hitters he faced in the eighth, before Josh Hader nailed down his 21st save.