Chris Sale and Blake Snell gave an impressive pitching performance on Monday night in a battle between top pitchers, but the Atlanta Braves narrowly defeated the San Francisco Giants 1-0 with a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Travis d’Arnaud in the 10th inning.
“It was a grind from the start,” Sale said. “Snell is about as good as you’re going to see.”
Snell was pitching a no-hitter for San Francisco through six innings, just 10 days after his first career no-hitter at Cincinnati. He allowed a double to Marcell Ozuna in the seventh inning on his 103rd pitch.
Matt Olson then hit an infield single, but Snell struck out Orlando Arcia before being taken out of the game. The two-time Cy Young Award winner had 11 strikeouts and three walks.
Sale struck out 12 batters and walked none in seven innings, giving up just three hits. The eight-time All-Star threw 77 of his 107 pitches for strikes and improved his ERA to 2.61 in his first season with Atlanta.
This win was only their second in nine games and moved them a game ahead of the New York Mets for the last National League wild-card spot.
This was Sale’s 94th career game with double-digit strikeouts. The combined 33 strikeouts were the most ever by two starting pitchers at Oracle Park.
“Sale’s effort tonight really got us going,” Braves closer Raisel Iglesias said through a translator. “I just think it was a really good outing. It could be one of those things where it gives us a little bit of a push moving forward.”
In the 10th inning, Sean Murphy’s leadoff single off Taylor Rogers (1-4) advanced Arcia, the automatic runner, from second to third base. He scored on d’Arnaud’s sacrifice fly to right field.
Iglesias (2-1) earned the win by striking out four in two perfect innings.
“He doesn’t flinch in those situations,” Sale said. “That’s why everyone in here trusts him. That’s why we love him here. Anytime he’s got the ball, you can’t have much more confidence in a closer than we have in him. We don’t win that game without him.”
San Francisco had runners on the corners in the first inning against Sale but didn’t score.
Atlanta bounced back after losing a 9-8 game at last-place Colorado the day before, where they had blown a six-run lead.
