Injured San Francisco Giants Starter Falters in Latest Rehab Appearance

The San Francisco Giants are hopeful that Cy Young winner Blake Snell will be ready to return soon.

May 27, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Blake Snell (7) delivers a pitch against the Philadelphia Phillies in the third inning at Oracle Park. / Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Injured San Francisco Giants starter Blake Snell had his latest rehab stint on Sunday with Triple-A Sacramento, starting a game against the Round Rock Express.

The Express are the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers.

Snell went just 1.2 innings for the River Cats, allowing two earned runs and three hits while he walked three and struck out none. He left the game in the second with the bases loaded and was replaced by reliever Hunter Dula.

Snell’s start on Sunday was his third in the minor leagues this year. He made two on a previous rehab stretch in May. He’s now made half as many starts in the minors as he has in the Majors.

The Giants planned to have Snell throw 50 pitches on Sunday. He tossed 51, but only 27 were strikes.

This has been one of the most troubling seasons in the 31-year-old left-hander’s career.

He signed in late March with San Francisco, the result of a soft market in free agency for his services, in spite of the fact he’s won a Cy Young award in both leagues and won the award in 2023 with the San Diego Padres.

Snell didn’t head to the minors to build up, as other late signees like Arizona Diamondbacks' Jordan Montgomery and the Rangers' Michael Lorenzen did. He hit the rotation on April 8 against the Washington Nationals and made three turns in the rotation before he suffered a left adductor muscle injury.

That required him to head to the 15-day injured list in mid-April and kept him out of the Majors for a month.

When he returned on May 22 he made his start against the Pittsburgh Pirates and then went straight to the paternity list awaiting the birth of his child. He spent 72 hours on that list but returned to make his next turn on May 27.

He went back on the 15-day IL on June 3, a day after he left a June 2 start against the New York Yankees with a groin injury. The injury was not related to his previous injury.

All of it has added up to Snell not being the pitcher he was a year ago, when he went 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA in 32 starts with 234 strikeouts and 99 walks.

He is 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA in six starts with 31 strikeouts and 14 walks. He threw two bullpens in the last week, including one that featured three up/downs to simulate several innings of work, before the rehab start.

Snell signed a two-year deal with the Giants, which includes a player opt-out after this season. He has a 71-58 career record with a 3.35 ERA, 1,254 strikeouts and 465 walks. He spent the first five years of his career with Tampa Bay (2016-20) before he was traded to the Padres (2021-23).