Blake Snell’s no-hitter: The unlikeliness and the timing make it extra sweet

Blake Snell threw a no-hitter in his first start for the San Francisco Giants after the trade deadline, and it was one of the most ridiculous, energizing and demonstrative displays from a pitcher in team history.

In the 141 years of the franchise, there have been just 18 no-hitters. Between Carl Hubbell in 1929 and Juan Marichal in 1963, the Giants didn’t have one. They moved from one side of the country to another, won two World Series and played through the Great Depression and World War II, but there wasn’t a no-hitter to be found. Each no-hitter is a gift. Some of them more than others. And Snell’s no-hitter is up there with the sweetest of them all.

About 4,500 minutes ago, there was a chance that Snell would hop on a plane to New York, Baltimore or Cleveland, if not San Diego or even Los Angeles. He was going to pitch for a team that was practically guaranteed to make the postseason, and he was going to give them a much better chance to win the World Series.

If Snell were traded at the deadline, his greatest moment as a Giant would be that time he struck out 15 Colorado Rockies. In 20 years, people were going to ask you where you were when he did that. And unless you were at Oracle Park that day, you would have no idea. The Blake Snell Giants era was going to be lost to the mists of time, like Reggie Jackson on the Baltimore Orioles or Dick Allen on the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Instead, Snell became a forever Giant. If you think that’s hyperbole, think about what you’d say if Chris Heston asked you for a lift downtown. “Sure, Chris Heston. I can drive you,” you’d say. When a pitcher throws a no-hitter, he’s in the Forever Giant club. Chris Heston, let me buy you a drink or make you a mixtape. Just say the word.

The timing of Snell’s achievement, combined with the unlikeliness of it all, makes it extra sweet.

Start with the timing. He wasn’t sure if he’d still be on the Giants in August. It’s one thing for a radio host or a baseball writer to pontificate about Snell on the Yankees, Orioles or Guardians, but it’s another to be the human being who has to deal with the logistics of it. How will I be received? How will I fit in the clubhouse? What does this mean for my family, especially my 3-month-old baby?

If it seems stressful, that’s because it is. Snell had just found his sea legs with the Giants, and he was pitching better than ever. He didn’t want to deal with the uncertainty and misery of a midseason job transfer. He was finally comfortable. If only there were a powerful way to demonstrate this …

Blake Snell had his no-hitter stuff tonight 😎 pic.twitter.com/NOmS0BwwYx

— SFGiants (@SFGiants) August 3, 2024

Move to the unlikeliness of the no-hitter. This 3-0 win in Cincinnati was the first game in Snell’s career in which he pitched into the ninth inning. Not only did he not have a complete game to go with his two Cy Youngs, but he didn’t even know what it felt like to walk off the mound after eight full innings. No pitcher had ever started more games in baseball history without getting through eight full innings. Giants starters who knew the feeling of finishing an eighth inning included Tyler Beede (once), Tyler Anderson (once) and Ty Blach (three times). Snell had never done it in his career, and he hadn’t come especially close.

What’s worse is, other than his two Cy Young awards, Snell’s legacy was going to be tethered to Game 6 of the 2020 World Series, when he got pulled with 73 pitches in the sixth inning. He was a newfangled starter in an era that didn’t care about complete games or 200 innings. He was the symbol of modern baseball, for better or for worse. He got pulled with a no-hitter after seven innings last season, and maybe that’s the reason his manager had to find a new job.

You’ve heard of five-and-dive pitchers. Snell got rich as a five-and-thrive pitcher. Now he has a no-hitter. A partial list of Cy Young winners without a no-hitter:

• Don Drysdale
• Steve Carlton
• Greg Maddux
• Roger Clemens
• CC Sabathia
• John Smoltz
• Barry Zito
• Jake Peavy

The last two were added for nostalgia, but you get the idea. Being so good and for so long that you get into the Hall of Fame (or deserve to) was never a guarantee of a no-hitter. Unforgettable achievements and moments aren’t passed out as the door prize at Cooperstown. There has to be a confluence of events, a singularity, a perfect combination of luck, skill, opportunity and execution.

The no-hitter happened the game after a shutout from Logan Webb, in a season where an embattled front office is taking criticism for not blowing it all up. It’s the kind of timing that doesn’t have to mean anything if the Giants get shut out for the rest of the road trip. But it’s also the kind of timing that can mean a whole lot more in retrospect. You can hear the voice of the San Francisco-adjacent celebrity like Mike Patton narrating the World Series film and detailing how the season turned around with the no-hitter. How the vote of confidence that came with the Giants deciding not to sell at the deadline reinvigorated the clubhouse.

If that doesn’t happen, and it most likely won’t, it’s just cool as heck. The first inning of Friday’s game was one of the silliest, most dominant outings in Giants history. No Reds hitter had a chance in that inning. Snell struck out the side on 11 pitches, and it didn’t feel like an anomaly. A nine-inning, 27-strikeout perfect game was most certainly in play.

Snell had to settle for a nine-inning, 11-strikeout no-hitter, which also happened to be the first shutout of his career. He’ll take it. That first inning was a declaration. He was going to continue his nonsense from before the deadline, and he was going to feel even more comfortable doing it.

Do the Giants ride this momentum? Does it help or hurt their chances to keep Snell beyond this season?

No idea. There’s time to figure that out. Until then, consider that a Giants pitcher achieved one of the coolest possible achievements in baseball. I’m not sure what the prospect-to-achievement exchange rate is these days, but my guess is Snell has already justified the decision to keep him around. Not because the Giants are still technically in a postseason race, but because now the 2024 Giants have a defining reminder that baseball can be very, very exciting and worthwhile. That’s something that the last two seasons lacked.

There’s a chance for a big-picture takeaway from this, but the most likely takeaways are: Blake Snell threw a no-hitter, which is rare, and it was a lot of fun to watch, which is rare for a Giants game over the last three seasons. No-hitters are an incredible shorthand description of the entire sport: a little luck, a lot of skill and you’ve got a stew going.

Snell’s no-hitter doesn’t have to be proof of anything — a new direction, a charge over Kettle Hill or a momentum shift. It’s just a moment in time that reminds you baseball can be so impossibly fun.

It was close to not happening. We’ll probably never know whether the inactive trade deadline cost the Giants a championship or if it prevented one for the Dodgers, but at least the Giants got a no-hitter out of it. If you haven’t seen it, pull up the video. It’s incredibly fun, as baseball should be.

(Photo: Jason Mowry / Getty Images)