Fastball

San Diego Padres Lefty Having a Bizarre Season That Could Make Baseball History

It's been an odd year for San Diego Padres lefty Blake Snell.

Brady Farkas

San Diego Padres Lefty Having a Bizarre Season That Could Make Baseball History
San Diego Padres Lefty Having a Bizarre Season That Could Make Baseball History /
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The San Diego Padres beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 on Tuesday night behind another solid performance on the mound from left-hander Blake Snell. 

Snell went six innings in the win, surrendering just two hits and no runs. He went to 7-8 on the season after walking five and striking out four.

The ability to allow minimal runs while walking many batters is not something unique to this performance for Snell.

In fact, he's on pace to make some very unique pitching history, per @OptaSTATS on Twitter:

Tonight Blake Snell lowered his MLB-leading ERA to 2.61 while also raising his MLB-high walk total to 64. 

Since ERA became an official stat in 1913, no pitcher has finished a season with both the lowest ERA (among qualifiers) and the most walks in MLB.

Despite the high walk rate, Snell only has a WHIP of 1.27, signifying a generally good job at repressing hits. He's only allowed 81 hits in 114.0 innings.

Snell also led the league in ERA in 2018 so this could be the second ERA crown for him.

The 30-year-old is in his eighth year in the big leagues with the Rays and Padres. He was named an All-Star in 2018 when he also won the American League Cy Young award.

After the win, San Diego is now 49-53 on the season. One of the most disappointing teams in baseball, they are 5-5 over their last 10 and in fourth place in the National League West.

They are also 6.0 games back in the National League wild card race.

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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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