How umpire’s missed calls impacted Snell’s outing in Giants debut originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Blake Snell’s highly anticipated Giants debut was spoiled in Monday night’s ugly 8-1 loss to the Washington Nationals at Oracle Park.
The umpire scorecard the following day showed how some of the most impactful missed calls by umpire Chris Guccione affected Snell’s three-inning outing.
While the blown calls only gave San Francisco +0.26 runs in a seven-run defeat, Snell’s first showing in orange and black could have looked much different.
The first missed call came in the opening inning on a 1-2 count with two outs and a runner on second when Snell delivered a 96 mph four-seam fastball to Joey Gallo, nearly the same pitch that got Gallo swinging the pitch prior. Guccione incorrectly called it a ball, but the top of the inning should have ended there.
Not much damage was done, however, as Gallo still struck out swinging. But it took three more pitches from Snell than it needed to.
The next missed call came during the first at-bat of the following inning. On a 2-0 coun with zero outs and no runners on base, Snell threw an 85 mph changeup to Joey Meneses that should have been strike one but incorrectly was called a ball.
Snell escaped the adversity again, though, and Meneses wound up striking out swinging three pitches later. But the Nationals scored three runs in the inning, and they extended their lead to 8-1 to take the first game of the three-game series.
The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, who lasted just three innings on Monday, was on a pitch count and finished at 72. He struck out five but gave up three runs on three hits over three innings in the loss.
“There’s a lot going through my head right now, but I’ll just say I was pretty amped up and I was trying to nitpick the zone too much,” Snell said postgame. “I made the bullpen have to cover a lot of innings that they shouldn’t have had to cover.”
“At least he’s off and running,” Giants manager Melvin said of Snell. “Not a great game for us all the way around.”
Source Agencies
