Giants' Blake Snell throws 1st career no-hitter in 3-0 win over the Reds

CINCINNATI (AP) — Blake Snell was one out away from pitching the first no-hit game in his illustrious career and had to get power-hitting Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz one more time.

Cruz jumped on Snell’s first pitch, a 97.8 mph fastball in the middle of the zone, ripping it hard to the gap in right-center field. Giants right fielder Mike Yastrzemski — inserted for defensive purposes in the eighth inning — ran it down, leaping to make the catch and preserve Snell's gem and 3-0 win.

The 31-year-old lefty, the league’s reigning Cy Young Award winner, was mobbed his teammates. It was third no-hitter in the majors this season.

“You're so amped up in the last inning there, to be able to make that throw when you are trying to throw it as hard as you can to the plate,” Snell said.

“I'm still kind of in shock,” he said. “I need to go home and let it sink in. I haven't really processed the game.”

Snell (1-3) struck out 10 and threw 114 pitches, 78 of them strikes. He said he came into the ninth inning throwing strikes because he feared Giants manager Bob Melvin would remove him at 120 pitches. He wanted the complete game, something he'd never done in 202 major league starts.

“I knew in my head I had to get it over the plate,” he said. It took him 10 pitches to strike out Santiago Espinal and get Jonathan India on a comebacker before De La Cruz swung at the 11th.

Actually, Melvin said he was ready to pull Snell if he had allowed a hit in the ninth. He was watching Snell closely because the pitcher started developing a blister around the seventh inning.

“That's as nervous as I had been in a long time,” Melvin said. "I wanted that for him so bad. If anybody has the stuff to throw a no-hitter, it's Blake Snell."

Snell was especially effective against the top of Cincinnati's order, striking out India three times, and De La Cruz and Spencer Steer twice each.

Snell recorded the 18th no-hitter in Giants' franchise history and the third in the majors this season. Houston’s Ronal Blanco no-hit Toronto on April 1, and San Diego’s Dylan Cease pitched a no-hitter against Washington on July 25.

“I don’t think it will be his only one," said Reds pitcher Nick Martinez, who played with Snell in San Diego last season. “He was commanding the ball very well. It seemed like he didn’t miss a spot all night. He has some electric stuff.”

Casey Schmitt and Tyler Fitzgerald homered for the Giants on Friday.

Snell threw six perfect innings against Minnesota on July 14, before the Twins’ Manuel Margot singled leading off the seventh inning. He struck out 15 in his last outing on July 27, yielding two hits through six innings.

He won the Cy Young Award while playing for San Diego last season after winning it in 2018 as a Tampa Bay Ray. He became the seventh player in major league history to win the award in both leagues. He signed a two-year, $62 million deal with the Giants before the season.

Snell became the fifth reigning Cy Young Award winner to throw a no-hitter, along with Jake Arrieta (2016), Clayton Kershaw (2014), Bob Gibson (1971) and Sandy Koufax (1964), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The last no-hitter for the Giants was by Chris Heston on June 19, 2015, as San Francisco beat the New York Mets 5-0.

The Reds were last no-hit on May 17, 2019, by Mike Fiers of the Oakland A’s in a 2-0 loss.

Reds starter Andrew Abbott lasted just 4 1/3 innings in Friday's game, allowing two runs and seven hits. He struck out eight.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Reds: Activated from the 10-day injured list C Luke Maile (herniated disc). ... Emilio Pagán (right lat strain) is a Triple-A Louisville for rehab stint.

UP NEXT

Giants lefty Kyle Harrison (6-4, 3.69 ERA) faces Reds right-hander Hunter Greene (7-4, 2.97) as the series continues on Saturday night.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

San Francisco Giants' Tyler Fitzgerald, right, celebrates with teammate Mark Canha (16) after hitting a solo home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

San Francisco Giants pitcher Blake Snell throws during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

San Francisco Giants' Tyler Fitzgerald rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

San Francisco Giants pitcher Blake Snell, right, sits in the dugout during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

San Francisco Giants pitcher Blake Snell walks to the dugout during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

San Francisco Giants pitcher Blake Snell jogs onto the field during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

San Francisco Giants pitcher Blake Snell, left, speaks with catcher Patrick Bailey, right, at the pitcher's mound during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

San Francisco Giants pitcher Blake Snell, center, throws during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Andrew Abbott throws during the second inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

San Francisco Giants' Casey Schmitt (10) celebrates with teammate Marco Luciano, right, after hitting a solo home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

San Francisco Giants' Marco Luciano scores on a double hit by teammate Tyler Fitzgerald during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

San Francisco Giants' Tyler Fitzgerald hits an RBI double during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

San Francisco Giants pitcher Blake Snell throws during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

Giants' Blake Snell throws 1st career no-hitter in 3-0 win over the Reds

Giants' Blake Snell throws 1st career no-hitter in 3-0 win over the Reds

Israel struck tents outside two major hospitals in the Gaza Strip overnight, killing at least two people, including a local reporter, and wounding nine, including six reporters, Palestinian medics said.

Separate strikes killed 15 others across the Strip, according to hospitals.

The war, now in its 18th month, started when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, and taking 251 others hostage. The group still holds 59 captives — 24 of whom are believed to be alive.

Israel's retaliatory offensive in the territory has killed over 50,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Here is the latest:

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, shops were closed on Monday and there were few cars on the streets of Ramallah where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority is headquartered.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state. The Palestinian Authority administers population centers with limited autonomy.

French President Emmanuel Macron has also urged the lifting of Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid.

Macron was in Cairo on Monday to meet with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and later with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, close Western allies, who are also calling for a ceasefire.

Israel ended its truce with Hamas last month and cut off all imports of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to the territory’s 2 million Palestinians to try and pressure Hamas to accept new terms in their ceasefire agreement.

Egypt and the Gulf nation of Qatar have served as key mediators with Hamas.

The military said Monday that soldiers killed the teen who endangered motorists on a road in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Sunday that a Palestinian-American teen was killed in the incident and two others were injured, one in critical condition.

The violence occurred near Turmus Aya, a town with a sizable population of Palestinian-Americans.

The strike hit a media tent outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, setting it ablaze, killing Yousef al-Faqawi, a reporter for the Palestine Today news website and another man. The six reporters were wounded in that strike.

The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas militant, without providing further information.

Israel also struck tents on the edge of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza.

Nasser Hospital also said it received 13 bodies, including six women and four children, from separate strikes overnight. Al-Aqsa Hospital said two people were killed and three wounded in a strike on a home in Deir al-Balah.

This story has been corrected to show that Palestine Today is a news website, not a TV station.

A woman looks at the destroyed house of journalist Islam Meqdad, where she was killed along with her son and five other family members in an Israeli army strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)