Another season means another controversy regarding pitcher Blake Snell and his late-game usage. For seven innings, the Tuesday night game looked like a special one for him. He had one of the best outings of his career and had gotten through seven innings without having allowed a hit but that came with a key caveat. He needed 107 pitches to get through those seven innings, and his manager deemed it the proper time to remove him from the game.
Reliever Pierce Johnson came on for the eighth and gave up a hit with one out. It was a pretty cheap hit, however. The no-hitter from Joe Musgrove back in April remains the only one in Padres history. The Padres accomplished the most important thing possible, though, and went on to win the game, 3-0, while allowing just three Diamondbacks hits.
As for Snell, he was probably all the way maxed out on his stamina. He threw 122 pitches last time out in 7 2/3 innings. Otherwise, 108 pitches was his biggest workload of the season. Snell hasn’t completed eight innings all season and, in fact, he’s never done it in his entire career. The 7 2/3 innings in his last start was the longest of his career. He has only gone at least seven innings 16 times and more than seven four times; three of those in 2018 and the other being this past outing against the Dodgers on Aug. 25. Also in favor of manager Jayce Tingler‘s decision-making process was that the Padres only had a 3-0 lead and have a banged-up starting rotation. Not only could they not afford to lose Snell right now, but they couldn’t afford to lose the game. They entered Tuesday night a half-game behind the Reds for the second wild-card spot in the National League. Because the Reds’ game got postponed, they are now in a virtual tie. All this is to say that while it’s easy to kick and scream about taking a pitcher out during a no-hitter, everything else under these circumstances said pulling Snell was the cerebral move. The Padres had a good night overall, and Tingler should be commended for putting his team over an individual pursuit.
