SAN FRANCISCO — Big league ballplayers have a saying: the starting pitcher sets the tone.
Blake Snell set an ominous tone on Friday night.
Making his third start in a Giants uniform, the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner got rocked once again as the Arizona Diamondbacks knocked him around for five earned runs in 4-2/3 innings in the Giants’ 17-1 loss in front of 33,921 fans at Oracle Park.
Through three games, Snell has gone 0-3 and allowed 15 earned runs in 11-2/3 innings (11.57 ERA) while striking out 12 batters and allowing five walks and 18 hits.
“I’ll find ways to get better and be the best me,” he said. “I don’t get too worried about the three games I’ve had because I know I’m better.”
It was a Friday night to forget.
And these were the same Giants that one night earlier played what manager Bob Melvin called the best game of the year, a 5-0 win in which Logan Webb very much set the tone with seven innings of shutout ball.
But Snell has yet to look comfortable in a Giants uniform, not since signing his two-year, $62-million contract in March and getting a late start in spring training, where he never got on the mound in a game.
His first action was in the big leagues, when he looked rusty in a home start against the Washington Nationals on April 8, allowing three runs in three innings. It got worse his next time out against his former team in Tampa Bay, when the Rays got him for seven runs in four innings.
Asked if he ever considered going to Triple-A to make some minor league starts before jumping straight into big league action without ever pitching in a spring training game, Snell said, “I mean it was definitely an option. But I didn’t think I needed it. I still don’t think I need it. Just have to have better sequencing. The stuff is there. It’s just better sequencing and pitching like I know I can.”
On Friday, the lefty had a nice curveball working and looked solid in the first two innings, finishing the second with a 79-mph hook that dropped through the lower-inside corner to strike out Gabriel Moreno.
It was one of just three strikeouts on the night, as Snell couldn’t spot his fastball consistently and failed to record outs in key moments.
Ketel Marte hammered an RBI double to get the Diamondbacks out in front, 1-0, in the third inning. Rookie Blaze Alexander smoked another RBI double to make it 2-0 in the fourth. And in the fifth, the wheels came off.
Snell recorded the first two outs, then gave up back-to-back singles before Randal Grichuk doubled to score two more and put Arizona ahead, 5-1.
Snell finished his night while allowing five earned runs on nine hits and a walk. He hadn’t allowed nine hits in a game since a 2021 start at Coors Field.
Melvin and Snell offered different assessments of what happened.
“I think there’s more left, as far as fastball command and velocity goes,” Melvin said. “And his changeup doesn’t usually get hit. It got hit today. I think there’s less of a gap between his fastball and changeup right now.”
There was a 10-mph gap between his fastball and changeup on Friday; last year, he averaged a 9-mph gap between the two.
Melvin also thought Snell looked fatigued towards the end of his outing, but Snell disagreed.
“No, I don’t think I have fatigue,” he said. “I think just better sequencing. Throw the fastball more and I’ll be good.”
He threw 51% fastballs on Friday; he averaged 48% fastballs last year.
Somewhere there’s a disconnect, and Snell said it boils down to adjusting to a new team and how the Giants like to attack opposing hitters being different from what he’s used to.
“I have to get used to that and add what I like,” he said. “There’s a lot going on. We’ll figure it out. We’ve been doing that a lot more lately. We’ll get there. I have no doubt. I’ll keep getting better and finding ways to be the best me and get past this phase.”
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His rough start Friday was followed by a trio of ugly outings by relievers Landen Roupp (1-2/3 innings, four runs allowed), Kai-Wei Teng (one inning, five runs) and Nick Avila, who served up a grand slam to Alexander during a six-run eighth inning.
To save their bullpen, the Giants sent utility man Tyler Fitzgerald to the mound in the top of the ninth. He allowed two more runs.
On offense, the Giants were stymied by lefty Jordan Montgomery, who, similar to Snell, didn’t sign until two days before the season started. But Montgomery went to Triple-A to make a pair of warm-up starts before his Diamondbacks debut on Friday, when he held the Giants to just one run over six innings.
The Giants’ only bright spot was a home run by Jorge Soler, who punished one 410 feet to left field for his fourth home run of the year.
Remarkably, it was the first long ball hit by the Giants at home this season. They had gone 201 days without homering at Oracle Park.
“In a game like this, it doesn’t really feel great that we got that monkey off our back,” Melvin said. “But we’ll take it.”
The Giants fell to 9-12 while the Diamondbacks moved to 10-11. The top four teams in the National League West are separated by just 2-1/2 games.
Next up: LHP Kyle Harrison (2-1, 4.70 ERA) vs. RHP Zac Gallen (3-0, 1.64 ERA) at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday.