SAN FRANCISCO — The reigning National League Cy Young winner and the favorite to win this year’s award faced off on a chilly night at Oracle Park.
The stars aligned for a pitching duel, and Chris Sale and Blake Snell created a constellation above the Chinese basin.
Snell (6 ⅓ IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 11 K) went six innings without a hit against the Braves and recorded his third double-digit strikeout game as a Giant. Sale never came close to a strikeout, but outlasted Snell and struck out one more batter than the Giants lefty. Snell and Sale combined to strike out 23 batters, marking the first time at Oracle Park since 2010 that both starters recorded double-digit strikeouts.
After the dominant starters came out on top, the Braves got the better of the Giants, scoring the automatic runner in the 10th inning to beat San Francisco, 1-0. To open a crucial series, the Giants (61-60) and Braves combined for 33 total strikeouts, the difference being Travis d’Arnaud’s game-winning sacrifice fly.
Snell and Sale both struck out six batters in the first four innings. Snell put just two runners on base in that span, retiring every other batter besides Jorge Soler, who drew two walks.
The best scoring chance either team had until the starters left came in the first inning, when the Giants put runners on the corners with no outs after Ramon Laureano reached a shallow fly ball and Mark Canha singled to center field. But Sale easily got out of the situation, establishing a rhythm.
Snell threw his first career no-hitter two weeks ago but never quite got going Monday. Although he didn’t give up a hit until Marcell Ozuna’s double in the seventh inning, he didn’t have enough quick innings to keep his pitch count down.
But the left-hander certainly showed his best side. After walking Soler — the former Giants star who was sent to Atlanta at the deadline — a second time, Snell retired seven straight batters. In the fifth, he struck out three, freezing Adam Duvall on a curveball up the middle to end the inning.
It was part of one of two separate stretches in which Snell struck out four Braves in a row.
Snell and Sale made baserunners a priority. For some reason, the Giants couldn’t reach the line. Marco Luciano stopped running down the line on a hard-hit grounder to third base to start the fifth, eventually getting thrown out by a double bounce. To end the inning, Casey Schmitt hit a fly ball up the middle, but Sale managed to catch the returning runner at 104 mph on the mound.
Snell didn’t even allow that much contact. With his 98th pitch, a curveball into the dirt, Snell ended the sixth inning with his 10th strikeout of the game.
The Giants had no one in the bullpen when Snell led off the seventh inning. Moments later, Randy Rodriguez began warming up as Ozuna slid into second base with Atlanta’s first hit.
Snell, MLB’s most dominant pitcher over the past month, left the field after striking out Orlando Arcia on a high fastball, inspiring a slam at the plate and a standing ovation from the Oracle Park crowd. Rodriguez then finished the inning with two straight strikeouts, leaving behind the two Snell had left him.
Sale, who didn’t allow a walk, was slightly more effective than Snell despite having one more hit. He surpassed Snell’s strikeout total by striking out Matt Chapman and Jerar Encarnacion while finishing the seventh inning.
Before Monday night, Oracle Park hadn’t hosted a pitching duel like this since Tim Lincecum and Cole Hamels struck out 22 batters on April 28, 2010.
Each team’s relievers picked up where Sale and Snell left off, sending the game into overtime with a combined 30 strikeouts – 15 each.
A run in the top of the 10th inning, on a single and a sacrifice fly to score the automatic runner, gave the Braves the lead for good. In a historic pitching duel, an unearned run was the winning base.
