SNELL, PADRES HANDLE ASTROS
Left-hander hit hard early but settles in for quality start, win
The Padres on Friday night did what they occasionally do and put together the kind of offensive night that for a time this season seemed promising and significant.
They beat the Astros 11-2 at Minute Maid Park by scoring four runs in the second, one each in the third and fifth, two in the seventh and three more in the eighth.
It will take eight more victories without a loss to get the Padres (67-75) back to a .500 record and even more fortunate occurrences to get them into playoff position.
So among matters that really mattered Friday, there was really only Blake Snell’s ongoing effort to win the National League Cy Young award.
And that was something of a mixed result.
The left-hander allowed two runs and struck out eight in six innings against one of the major leagues’ most prolific offenses.
“I pitched really well,” Snell said. “… I’m happy with it. I know how good they are.”
It was Snell’s sixth consecutive quality start and the 20th consecutive start in which he has allowed no more than three runs.
But his ERA did rise twohundredths of a point to 2.52, still lowest in the NL but just .03 below that of the Cubs’ Justin Steele.
Friday’s game against the American League Westleading Astros and his next start, Wednesday against the NL West-leading Dodgers, would seem to provide Snell with an excellent opportunity.
By faring well against two offenses ranked in the top six in OPS and top five in runs scored, Snell can perhaps separate himself from the other contenders in the Cy Young race.
Steele, who has made four fewer starts and thrown 11 fewer innings than Snell, is also 16-3 and has a higher ERA-plus than Snell. Steele’s WAR as figured by FanGraphs is higher than Snell’s, but Snell leads the NL in WAR as computed by baseball-reference.
The Phillies’ Zack Wheeler has a 3.49 ERA and, according to FanGraphs, leads MLB in pitching WAR. The Diamondbacks’ Zac Gallen has a 3.48 ERA and the NL’s fourth-highest pitching WAR, per Fangraphs.
The start to Friday’s game seemed to hint at a different outcome for Snell, who entered the game with the seventh-lowest hard-hit rate allowed in the major leagues and was hit hard right away.
The first four Astros batters put the ball in play at 95 mph or harder. That was half as many as the highest total of hard-hit balls Snell had allowed in a game this season. It was more than he allowed in 10 of his starts.
Included in that early outburst were a double by Jeremy Peña and RBI single by Yordan Alvarez before Snell (13-9) got the final two outs in the first inning.
Snell settled into the outing at that point, striking out five straight at the end of a streak of eight consecutive batters retired between the first and third innings.
That stretch ended with a walk of Alvarez to start the fourth inning. He also issued a two-out walk in that inning, to José Abreu, before ending the inning on Chas McCormick’s fly ball to the warning track in right field.
McCormick’s flyout, at 95.9 mph, was also the next hard hit ball by the Astros.
Snell walked Alvarez again to start the sixth, and Alex Bregman followed with a line drive single up the middle. Alvarez advanced to third on Kyle Tucker’s fly ball, and easily scored on a double by Abreu that moved Bregman to third. Snell got out of the inning with a strikeout of McCormick and a 106.6 mph line drive by
Yainer Diaz. That was the season-high 10th ball put in play at 95 mph or greater against Snell on Friday.
“Definitely happy with how I pitched today,” Snell said. “The goal is to not give up runs. But we score 11, it’s OK to give up two, especially with that lineup that’s really talented.”
The Padres built a 6-1 lead on six hits and a pair of walks.
They sent eight batters to the plate in the second inning, which included RBI singles by Luis Campusano and Trent Grisham and a two-run single by Ha-Seong Kim.
Bogaerts hit a two-out homer in the third to make it 5-1. In the fifth, Juan Soto’s double scored Kim, who had led off with a walk.
Kim led off the seventh with a single, stole his way to third, and Juan Soto walked and stole second before Manny Machado’s two-run double put the Padres up 8-2. Grisham’s three-run homer in the eighth made it 11-2.