During his career with the Rays, Blake Snell was not allowed to go very deep in games because of an organizational belief it's not beneficial to allow starters to do that. After being traded to the Padres, Snell said he wanted to change that.
He's still figuring out how to do it, but when he does the rest of the league is in trouble.
Snell only went 5.0 innings on Saturday night against the Giants but struck out six and it was good enough to give the Friars a 6-2 win, his first in a San Diego uniform.
The Padres had three runs before they had an out. Trent Grisham led off the game with a single, Fernando Tatis Jr. walked on four pitches, and Manny Machado lofted a 3-run home run into the left field seats off Giants starter Anthony DeSclafani, who tossed a three-hit shutout in his last start against the Rockies.
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Snell was rolling with five strikeouts and just two hits allowed and then the 5th inning happened. Mauricio Dubon led it off with a solo homer and Darin Ruf lined an RBI single to left to score DeSclafani and cut the lead to 3-2. Another hit and a walk loaded the bases and Snell dug deep, striking out Brandon Belt to end the inning.
After 91 pitches his night was through. In six starts Snell hasn't worked more than 5.1 innings but if the bullpen is going to be this good then he can get away with it.
Criag Stammen threw a perfect 6th inning with help from Tatis Jr. diving to snag a liner from Mauricio Dubon. Austin Adams struck out the side in the 7th. Emilio Pagan struck out the side in the 8th.
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In the bottom half of the inning Jurickson Profar was looking for a fastball from Camilo Doval. He got it on the first pitch and smoked a solo home run to right field, punctuating it with a bat flip and a (pardon the pun) giant smile on his face. Jake Cronenworth added a 2-run single to put it out of reach.
The Padres can sweep the series on Sunday afternoon.
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