Blake Snell struck out 12 batters in six innings and gave up only one hit, leading the San Francisco Giants to a 10-0 victory over the struggling Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night.
The Orioles have lost seven out of their last nine games, putting them four games behind the first-place Yankees in the AL East. Baltimore was in first place by half a game on September 5 but has now been outscored 46-18 during their recent slump.
Colton Cowser recorded two of the Orioles’ five hits in their biggest shutout loss of the season.
“We’ve been scuffling offensively,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “We had a tough night.”
The Giants took the lead early when Mike Yastrzemski hit the second pitch from Orioles starter Albert Suárez (8-6) over the right-field wall. Yastrzemski added an RBI single in the second inning after a sacrifice fly by Brett Wisely, and Snell kept the lead intact.
“Getting runs early on, it feels good to pitch with a lead,” Snell said. “You can be more aggressive.”
Facing a Baltimore team missing several injured starters, Snell (4-3) showed the talent that helped him win the 2023 NL Cy Young Award.
The left-handed pitcher had at least two strikeouts in every inning except the fourth, making up for it by striking out all three batters in the fifth.
“We faced one of the better pitchers in the game, and we didn’t swing the bats well against him,” Hyde said.
Snell struck out All-Star Gunnar Henderson three times, with the final strikeout coming in the sixth inning as part of his 98-pitch performance.
“Gunnar. Changeups. He just struggles with them,” Snell said. “A lot of lefties do.”
Snell walked two batters, and the only hit he allowed was a solid single by Emmanuel Rivera in the third inning.
“I like where I was at mentally today,” Snell said.
