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What we learned as Snell deals to deliver Giants sweep vs. Royals originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
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Blake Snell continued his run as the Giants’ best pitcher over the past two months with another dominant outing, and San Francisco stayed hot on its final road trip of the 2024 MLB season with a 2-0 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium.
Snell (5-3) allowed two hits and had nine strikeouts with one walk over six scoreless innings, out-dueling Royals starting pitcher Seth Lugo in a matchup of staff aces.
Rodney McCray and Brett Wisely drove in San Francisco’s two runs on a day when Lugo pitched well but didn’t get much support.
That was because Snell once again pitched like the dominant starter he has been for most of his career, and certainly the Giants’ best pitcher since mid-summer. In 14 starts since July 9, Snell is 5-0 with a 1.23 ERA and 114 strikeouts over 80 1/3 innings.
Sean Hjelle retired all three batters he faced before Tyler Rogers pitched in and out of a jam, getting Royals slugger Salvador Perez to hit an infield pop-up to end a bases-loaded threat in the eighth. Ryan Walker hit the first batter he faced in the ninth then set down the next three for his ninth save of the season.
It’s San Francisco’s second consecutive shutout, third in six games and 11th overall this season.
The Giants have won five of six on this road trip heading into Monday’s series in Arizona against the Diamondbacks before returning to Oracle Park for a season-ending set against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Here are the takeaways from Sunday’s game:
Snell’s Curve Carves Royals
Snell was efficient and steady with basically every pitch he threw, but he was particularly effective throwing the curve. That’s certainly no surprise because Snell has been very good with his off-speed stuff most of the season.
The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner complemented his fastball with a wicked curve that generated nine swing-and-misses and left the Royals’ hitters muttering to themselves walking back to the dugout.
Coming Through
Wisely had been struggling at the plate since being called back up from the minors at the end of August, so seeing the young infielder deliver a two-out RBI single in the second inning was an encouraging sign. It only was Wisely’s fourth hit in 35 at-bats since his return, and it turned out to be a key one.
That also continued Wisely’s trend of coming through in the clutch. The Giants have been very mediocre at the plate with runners in scoring position for most of the 2024 season, but Wisely’s numbers (.309, 22 RBI) in those situations have been solid all year.
Swept Away
Even though the MLB playoffs no longer are in play, the Giants still can build a little momentum heading into the offseason. At this point in the season, sweeping any team is promising, especially against one that’s in contention for one of the AL wild-card spots.
This is only the third series sweep this season by the Orange and Black, and the first on the road. The Giants’ other two sweeps happened at Oracle Park, and both times they did it against the Colorado Rockies.
The sweep is the first by the Giants of a three-game set or more against an American League team since 2022.
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