San Francisco Giants' Snell and Melvin React to No-No

The San Francisco Giants reacted to the team's first no-hitter since 2015.

Aug 2, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Blake Snell (7) celebrates after throwing a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. / Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports

On Friday night, Blake Snell took the mound in Cincinnati and made history by throwing the 18th no-hitter in San Francisco Giants history. The first for the Giants since Chris Heston no-hit the New York Mets in 2015, it was also the first complete game in Snell's career.

The left hander struck out 11 while walking three on his way to the no-hitter, continuing the dominant stretch he's been on. Over his last five starts, Snell has thrown 33 innings while allowing just two earned runs, eight hits and striking out 41 batters. In his last start before Friday, the 31-year-old struckout 15 in just six innings, but one-upped it a start later. And he let everyone know.

"They can't say it anymore, you know? Complete game, shutout, no-hitter. Leave me alone. 'He doesn't go to the ninth, he doesn't go to the eighth,' You know how good that feels? Just did it. Leave me alone," he boasted in the clubhouse after the game.

There is the infamous World Series game in which he got pulled after 5.1 innings of one run ball, which has been following Snell since. He appears to feel that he got the monkey off of his back. Snell gave props to his coaching staff and pitch count for pushing him to keep going.

"I'm gonna be honest, that's more on BoMel and J.P. [Martinez] there., pushing that. But, yeah, I don't know. Low pitch count compared to where I was at when I had a no-hitter against Arizona. I've had plenty, but too many pitches. This one, I attacked early in the first four, then the fifth, kinda, a little shaky and got back into attacking and got quick outs," Snell explained.

The fact that he hadn't pitched into the ninth in his career was weighing on him, and he shared something that he told catcher Patrick Bailey after he signed.

"I told him at the end of Spring Training when I first got here, 'I haven't gone nine, we need to go nine this year,' and it's kind of cool how it all happened," he told reporters.

Snell's first career complete game and no-hitter was not only a personal achievement for the two time Cy Young Award winner, but he was thinking about his teammates, as well.

"After Webby, too, so that's two days off. The bullpen's on three day vacation. I didn't see that coming," he laughed, thinking of his relievers.

Yet, Snell wasn't the only one in the Giants organization that wanted him to get that complete game. His manager, Bob Melvin, knew it would come eventually.

"I wasn't going to say a whole lot to him. You know, he was a little tired and he's never been in the ninth inning before. But, there comes a point in time where it's kind of destiny for him," the manager said, praising Snell.

The hot streak that Snell had been on allowed Melvin to give the lefty more of a leash in a situation like Friday's, and it paid off. After a start to the season in which Snell struggled to make it to the fifth inning while also dealing with injuries, he is now one of the reasons that San Francisco decided not to sell.

With Webb and Snell's last two starts, it is the first time the Giants have thrown back-to-back complete game shutouts since Jason Schmidt and Livan Hernandez in 2002.

"I kept looking at Pat [Bailey] the whole time. I just was like 'I told you we were gonna do it, I told you we were gonna do it,'" Snell reminisced.