SAN FRANCISCO – It appears the dye has been cast in terms of the San Francisco Giants’ playoff hopes for this season.
The Giants had just 27 games left on the schedule going into their date with the Miami Marlins on Friday, and a just-completed 2-4 road trip left them 6½ games back of the National League’s third and final wild-card spot.
FanGraphs listed the Giants’ playoff chances at a less-than-robust 1.0% as they began a six-game homestand.
With that in mind, perhaps it’s time to start wondering which Giants players will be back in 2025, and that speculation probably has to start with two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell.
Snell took the mound Friday for what figured to be one of his final starts of the season at Oracle Park. Looking to bounce back from his outing last Saturday in Seattle, in which he lasted just three innings, Snell struck out eight in seven innings before the Giants rallied for a 3-1 win over the Marlins before an announced crowd of 32,606.
With two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth inning, Matt Chapman doubled a belt-high slider from George Soriano to the left-center field wall, scoring all three baserunners.
Ryan Walker then came in the ninth and earned his fifth save of the season as the Giants won for the third time in the last eight games.
“Just trying to make sure that I could get to the fastball, but still try to cover the slider,” Chapman said. “Just trying to battle, trying to put a ball in play, trying to just get a base hit and extend the inning.
“Obviously, (Soriano’s) got good stuff. As I got deeper into the count, I started seeing more pitches and started getting more comfortable, so I was luckily able to put a good swing on that last one.”
The Giants trailed 1-0 after David Hensley sent a 97-mph fastball from Snell into right field, scoring Derek Hill from third base in the seventh inning. The run ended Snell’s home scoreless inning streak at 30 1/3, the longest in Oracle Park history (since 2000).
“Just vintage Blake,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “It’s almost a shock when he gives up a run, especially with guys on base like that. He always seems to be able to pitch out of a jam.”
In the bottom of the eighth, Jerar Encarnacion singled and Mike Yastrzemski and Heliot Ramos both walked to load the bases with one out. Marlins reliever Mike Baumann struck out Michael Conforto, but after the pitching change, Chapman, who went 5-for-22 on the road trip, drove Soriano’s 1-2 offering.
Snell’s season has been the definition of up-and-down.
Before he went on the injured list with a groin strain in early June, Snell was 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA (25 earned runs in 23.2 inning), 31 strikeouts and a 1.94 WHIP in six starts.
But in his last nine starts since returning from the IL on July 9, Snell is 2-0 with a 1.30 ERA (eight earned runs in 55.1 innings pitched), 75 strikeouts, and a 0.76 WHIP. Opposing batters have hit .111 over that span.
Snell figures to get at least five more starts this season if he stays healthy. Then it’ll come down to whether he wants to play out the final year of his contract with San Francisco, sign a longer-term deal with the Giants if one is available, or opt-out, become a free agent, and sign elsewhere.
The two-year, $62 million contract Snell signed with the Giants in March calls for him to make $38.5 million in 2025, with $15 million of that deferred to 2027 without interest.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported on Aug. 18 that Snell, who is represented by Scott Boras, is expected to opt out, something that Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi seemed to acknowledge in an August 16 interview on KNBR.
“His representation is known for taking things into the offseason,” Zaidi said on the ‘Tolbert and Copes’ show when asked if the Giants would be willing to extend Snell now. “That’s not a commentary or critique. It’s just the way it is. And I think he recognizes that there’s going to be healthy market for his services.
“And we’ve got some young pitching, we’ve got other guys in the rotation, but everybody could use Blake Snell at the top of the rotation.”
Snell said he’s trying to stay focused on the present, as the Giants remained 6 1/2 games out of a playoff spot.
“I don’t think about it,” Snell said of the offseason. “I’m really big on where I’m at is where I’m at, and my feet are here, and I’m not going to look at what ifs or what could happen possibly. It doesn’t matter right now. It’s I’m here, we need to win, I love this team, and that’s all I’m focused on.”
Friday, Snell used his curveball and changeup to register five strikeouts in the first three innings. He and the Giants’ defense also stranded three runners in the first four innings.
After Otto Lopez led off the second inning with a single to left, Snell didn’t allow another hit until the top of the seventh inning when Hill also singled to left. Hill then stole second base, advanced to third on a Lopez flyout, and scored on a Hensley single to right for a 1-0 Marlins lead.
The Giants, who scored 20 runs on their six-game trip, were stymied by Marlins right-handed starter Adam Oller, who struck out eight and allowed just two hits over six innings. The Giants struck out 11 times in total.
The Giants have had their issues with opposing starting pitchers in recent games.
“I think, really, we try too hard sometimes,” Melvin said when asked about his team’s issues with opposing starting pitchers in recent games. “We try to be patient, we try to be aggressive. Kind of get caught in the middle a little bit sometimes. We’re striking out.
“Some of them are called, some are swinging. So we’re kind of caught in the middle of how aggressive we need to be, but hopefully hit like that (Chapman’s) jump start us.”
NOTE: Melvin announced after the game that Mason Black will start Saturday’s game.
