Fastball

San Diego Padres' Blake Snell Joins Elite Strikeout History vs. Former Team

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Blake Snell made some elite baseball history on Saturday in a dominant performance against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Brady Farkas

San Diego Padres' Blake Snell Joins Elite Strikeout History vs. Former Team
San Diego Padres' Blake Snell Joins Elite Strikeout History vs. Former Team /
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Pitching against his former team on Saturday night, San Diego Padres starting pitcher Blake Snell joined an elite group in major league baseball strikeout history.

Snell struck out 12 batters over six innings against his former team, the Tampa Bay Rays, as the Padres won, 2-0. Snell is now 3-6 on the season with a 3.48 ERA.

As for the history, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Blake Snell struck out all 9 starters for the 2nd straight start, becoming the 4th pitcher to do so since 1961. 

The others: - Jacob deGrom (2021) 

- Pedro Martinez (1999 & 2000) 

- Randy Johnson (1992 & 1999)

Considering that Johnson and Martinez are in the Baseball Hall of Fame and widely regarded as two of the best pitchers to ever play the game, that is quite an accomplishment.

Snell has always been a guy who could miss bats. He's struck out 93 batters now in 75 innings for San Diego.

The outing was extra sweet considering that it came against his former team. Snell spent five seasons in Tampa Bay with the Rays, winning the Cy Young award in 2018 and helping the Rays get to the World Series in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

With the win, the Padres moved to 34-36 on the season as they try to climb back towards .500. They are still in fourth place in the National League West and trail the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks by 8.5 games. 

The Rays are now 51-23 and lead the American League East by six games over Baltimore.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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