Blake Snell no-hitter: Cy Young winner has long shown ability to dominate, but he finally got to finish

Snell had never pitched in the ninth inning before Friday night

By Matt Snyder Aug 2, 2024 at 11:33 pm ET• 3 min read

"No-hit stuff" has long been baseball speak for a pitcher with amazing stuff -- one who has the ability to dominant hitters, making them look foolish multiple times through the order. Two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, one of just seven pitchers to ever win a Cy Young in both leagues, has long had the ability to flash no-hit stuff on any given night. 

That's never even been questioned. What held him back from throwing a no-hitter for years was inconsistency and the inability to be efficient enough to work the late innings. Snell's most famous outing, in fact, is so widely known because he was pulled.  

Remember Game 6 of the 2020 World Series? The Rays were facing elimination and Snell was working on a one-hit shutout through 5 1/3 innings. Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes singled and Snell was yanked by manager Kevin Cash. Mookie Betts then doubled off Nick Anderson before a wild pitch tied the game and a grounder gave the Dodgers the lead. They'd win the World Series a few innings later. 

Snell has long been able to dominate through the middle innings like that. He'd previously been pulled from three different starts with zero hits allowed. in the fifth inning or later. Two of those outings he was pulled with no hits allowed through seven! In fact, per CBS Sports research, only Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax have ever had more starts with seven-plus innings and zero hits.