Snell throws immaculate inning in rehab outing with SJ Giants

Snell throws immaculate inning in rehab outing with SJ Giants originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Blake Snell's first minor-league rehab start got off to a perfect start. Some might say immaculate.

The Giants placed Snell on the 15-day injured list on April 24 with a left adductor strain, and the two-time Cy Young Award winner made his first rehab outing with the Single-A San Jose Giants on Sunday.

And you could say Snell looked sharp early, throwing a rare immaculate inning on nine pitches (all strikes) for three strikeouts.

There only have been 114 immaculate innings recorded in MLB history, and the last Giant to do so was Santiago Casilla against the Cincinnati Reds on May 17, 2015.

“Nine strikes in a row is tough for me to do,” Snell told the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser after his outing. “I mean it’s cool, but if it was in the big leagues, that would be really cool.”

Unfortunately for Snell, his did not count. But still impressive nonetheless.

Snell's final line was 4 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 Ks on 46 pitches. The pitcher told Slusser he might need another minor-league start under his belt before returning to San Francisco, however.

“I need a little bit of a tougher outing,” Snell told Slusser. “We’ll see how the week goes. If I’m feeling really good and my cardio is way better, maybe we think about pitching in the big leagues. But I’m not doing what I did last time, that was tough.

"I want to be 100 percent ready to go, no doubt, just attack, because that’s what I do best.”

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