McCoy: Reds no-hit by Giants’ Snell

San Francisco left-hander Blake Snell threw a dazzling no-hitter at the Reds, pitching the Giants to a 3-0 victory.

It was his 208th major league start and he had never pitched a complete game, never pitched out of the eighth inning.

But with the Great American Ball Park crowd on its feet cheering him on, Snell went 1-2-3 in the ninth to notch the 18th no-hitter in Giants history.

First, he ended Santiago Espinal’s 11-game hitting streak at 11 games by striking him out, his 11th strikeout ... the 32nd time he struck out 10 or more.

Then he took only two more pitches to complete his no-hitter, a first-pitch grounder to the mound by Jonathan India and a first-pitch hard line drive to right by Elly De La Cruz.

Of his 11 strikeouts, Snell was nastiest to the top three Reds, seven of his strikeouts — India three times, De La Cruz twice and Spencer Streer twice.

Cincinnati manager David Bell stacked his line-up with eight right-handers. TJ Friedl was the only left-hander. It made no difference to Snell during his 114-pitch night.

Snell gave a quick indication, after the game’s start was delayed an hour by the threat of rain. He started his game in the first by striking out the side. And he struck out the side in the fourth.

His high fastballs had the Reds flailig at thin air all night.

Only three Reds reached base, all via walks — Jeimer Candelario with one out in the second, Tyler Stephenson leading off the fifth (he was doubled off first on Candelario’s liner to second, and Friedl on a full count with two outs in the fifth.

Snell then retired the final 13 to become only the second pitcher to no-hit the Reds in GABP, matching the Chicago Cubs’ Jake Arieta in 2016.

Snell took the ugliest statistics a pitcher could take to the mound — 0-3 with a 5.10 earned run average.

But ... and it’s a big but. Snell lost his first three starts this season, then suffered seven straight no decisions.

And in his last three no-decisions, he gave up two runs and six hits over 19 innings. His last start was a near-masterpiecce against the Colorado Rockies — six innings, no runs, two hits, 15 strikeouts. And a no-decision.

With his nine scoreless, hitless innings Friday on City Connect night, when the Reds couldn’t connect with anything, Snell has given up two runs and seven hits over 28 innings.

The defeat was dastardly on two fronts for the Reds. They dropped back into last place in the National League Central behind the Chicago Cubs and 10 games behind division-leading Milwaukee.

And they began the game one game behind the Giants in the wild card chase. The Giants were 4 1/2 games behind the coveted third wild card spot while the Reds were 5 1/2. So they dropped a game in the wild card standings.

Reds starter Andrew Abbott had one lapse and it was costly. It came in the second inning with two outs and nobody on.

Then came three straight hits and a pair of runs. It began with a home run off the bat of No. 8 hitter Casey Schmitt.

Number nine hitter Marco Luciano singled and scored on leadoff hitter Tyler Fitzgerald’s full-count double.

Abbott gave up seven hits over his 4 1/3 innings, but gave up just the two runs and struck out seven.

Buck Farmer followed him with a perfect 1 2/3 innings that included four strikeouts.

Nick Martinez arrived in trhe seventh and gave up a one-out home run to Fitzgerald, his third hit and a 3-0 Giants lead.

And Snell took it from there.