San Francisco Giants left-hander Blake Snell threw his first career no-hitter in a 3-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday.

The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner threw 78 of his 114 pitches for strikes, striking out 11 batters and allowing three walks.

Snell also recorded the first complete game of his career, pitching into the ninth inning for the first time in his 202 career starts, and his first win in a Giants uniform.

Tyler Fitzgerald and Casey Schmitt each homered for San Francisco, who have won six of their last seven.

Snell’s no-hitter was the 18th in Giants franchise history, with the most recent coming in 2015 from Chris Heston.

Snell threw the third no-no in the major leagues this season, joining Ronel Blanco of the Houston Astros and Dylan Cease of the San Diego Padres.

Snell was one of the most celebrated off-season moves when he signed a two-year, $62million deal with San Francisco, but he made just his 11th start of the season on Friday due to two stints on the injured list.

Snell’s first three starts with the Giants were a disaster, saddling him with an 0-3 record and an 11.57 ERA. Since returning from his most recent IL stint, however, he has allowed just 2 runs in 33 innings, and batters are hitting .078 against him over that five-game stretch.

The New York Yankees received eight stellar innings from Nestor Cortes and three-run homers from Juan Soto and Anthony Volpe to continue their hot start with Monday's 7-0 win over the floundering Miami Marlins.

Cortes retired 24 of the 26 batters he faced, yielding just a pair of singles, to record his first victory since May 30 and help New York match the best 11-game start to a season in franchise history at 9-2. The left-hander struck out six while throwing 70 of 102 pitches for strikes.

The Yankees have opened a season 9-2 seven times previously, most recently in 2020.

Volpe and Soto's homers both came in the fourth inning off Jesus Luzardo, with Soto's blast his first at Yankee Stadium since New York acquired the star outfielder from the San Diego Padres in the offseason.

Soto finished 2 for 3 and Alex Verdugo went 3 for 3 with an RBI as the Yankees extended Miami's early-season woes. The Marlins have now lost 10 of their first 11 games for the second time in team history, having previously done so in 1998.

Luzardo permitted all seven runs while being tagged for eight hits and five walks in 4 2/3 innings.

The Miami left-hander had kept the Yankees scoreless until Volpe followed fourth-inning singles by Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo with a drive into the left field seats.

Verdugo then doubled and Luzardo walked Jose Trevino before retiring the next two batters to bring up Soto, who launched the first pitch he saw over the wall in right for a 6-0 lead.

Stanton doubled to open the bottom of the fifth before scoring the Yankees' final run on Verdugo's two-out single.

Nationals rout Giants to spoil Snell's San Francisco debut

Lane Thomas went 3 for 5 with a home run and three RBIs as the Washington Nationals spoiled Blake Snell's San Francisco Giants debut with an 8-1 rout in the opener of a three-game series.

Trey Lipscomb also had three hits, including an RBI single, and delivered a steal of home to help pin a loss on Snell in the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner's first start as a Giant.

Snell, who went 14-9 with an MLB-leading 2.25 ERA and 234 strikeouts with the San Diego Padres last season, joined San Francisco on a two-year, $62 million contract in March.

The ace left-hander struck out five in three innings, but surrendered three runs on three hits while walking two.

Washington received a more effective outing from starter Trevor Williams, who held San Francisco to one run on three hits over five innings to move to 2-0 on the season.

Snell's trouble came in the second inning, as he issued consecutive one-out walks before Lipscomb singled to left to drive in a run and tie the score at 1-1. 

Luis Garcia followed with an infield RBI single that put Washington ahead before stealing second base, with Lipscomb running home from third on the play and beating the throw to the plate.

The Giants had taken a 1-0 lead when Jung Hoo Lee singled and LaMonte Wade doubled two batters later, with Lee crossing the plate on an errant throw from Nationals left fielder Jesse Winker.

Thomas' two-run homer off Landen Roupp in the fifth pushed Washington's lead to 5-1, and the Nationals tacked on another run in the inning on Ildemaro Vargas' RBI double.

Washington scored twice more in the ninth via an RBI single from Thomas and a bases-loaded walk to Vargas that forced in Winker.

Ohtani's homer, three hits power Dodgers past Twins

Shohei Ohtani tied a career high with three extra-base hits, including a solo homer, as the Los Angeles Dodgers got back on track with a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Twins.

Ohtani added two doubles along with his third homer in five games to help Los Angeles take the opener of this three-game series. The Dodgers entered Minnesota off two losses in three games to the Chicago Cubs over the weekend.

James Paxton did his part for Los Angeles by holding the Twins to two runs on three hits over six solid innings to win his second straight start to begin the season.

Paxton's lone blemish came when he served up a two-run homer to Manuel Margot in the third inning that gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead.

The Twins maintained a one-run edge until the sixth, when Ohtani greeted reliever Steven Okert with a double and later scored on Will Smith's single.

Okert came on for Bailey Ober, who allowed just one run and three hits over five innings before departing in line for the win.

James Outman put Los Angeles ahead with a solo homer off Jay Jackson in the seventh. Two batters later, Ohtani connected for an opposite-field blast off Jackson that increased the lead to 4-2.

Ober's lone run allowed came after issuing a lead-off walk to Mookie Betts in the first inning. Ohtani followed with a double before Betts crossed the plate on Freddie Freeman's sacrifice fly. 

The San Francisco Giants and reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell have agreed to a two-year contract worth $62million, multiple media outlets reported Monday.

Snell will reportedly have the ability to opt out of the deal after one season and become a free agent again.

The left-hander won his second career Cy Young last season with the San Diego Padres after going 14-9 with a league-leading 2.25 ERA.

Snell, 31, won the AL Cy Young in 2018 after going 21-5 with a 1.89 ERA for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Singing Snell is the latest move in a busy offseason for the Giants as they try to catch up with their biggest rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers, in the NL West.

Earlier this offseason, the Giants spent over $250million in free agency to acquire South Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee, third baseman Matt Chapman, right-hander Jordan Hicks and slugging outfielder Jorge Soler.

In January, San Francisco traded for left-handed starter Robbie Ray, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery and could pitch later in 2024.

In 191 career starts, Snell is 71-55 with a 3.20 ERA and has 1,223 strikeouts in 992.2 innings pitched.

New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole won his first American League Cy Young Award on Wednesday, while the San Diego Padres' Blake Snell won his second Cy Young - and first time in the National League.

Cole was the runner-up twice for the AL Cy Young (in 2019 and ’21) but received all 30 first-place votes by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, becoming the 11th unanimous AL winner.

The right-hander led the league in three of the most important pitching statistics, finishing first in ERA (2.63), WHIP (0.98) and innings pitched (209). His 222 strikeouts were third in the AL behind Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman's 237 and Minnesota Twins righty Pablo Lopez's 234.

Gausman finished third in voting, while Lopez's Twins teammate, Sonny Gray, finished second.

Cole went 15-4 and yielded fewer than four runs in 28 of 33 starts in 2023. He was dominant over the season’s final five weeks, going 5-0 with a 1.29 ERA and 0.68 WHIP with the Yankees winning all seven of those games.

He's the first Yankee to win the award since 2001, when Roger Clemens won it.

Snell becomes the seventh pitcher to win the award in both leagues after winning the AL Cy Young as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018.

The left-hander led all of MLB with a 2.25 ERA and .181 opponents' batting average, while his 234 strikeouts trailed only Atlanta Braves righty Spencer Strider's 281 for the most in the NL.

Snell also led the majors with 99 walks, becoming the first pitcher since Early Wynn for the 1959 Chicago White Sox to win the Cy Young despite leading MLB in base on balls.

Voters looked past his control issues and evidently focused on his incredible stretch from late May through the end of the season. In his final 23 starts, Snell recorded a 1.20 ERA - only Bob Gibson in 1968 posted a lower ERA in as many starts.

Snell, who finished the season 14-9 with a 1.19 WHIP, received 28 of 30 first-place votes to finish ahead of the San Francisco Giants' Logan Webb and Zac Gallen of the NL champion Arizona Diamondbacks.

Zack Greinke produced a complete game to inspire the Houston Astros' 13-1 demolition of the Toronto Blue Jays in MLB action on Friday.

Astros ace Greinke threw his first complete game since 2017 and the 17th of his career to lead the Astros to a crushing victory over the Blue Jays.

Greinke – a six-time All-Star, six-time Gold Glove winner and two-time Silver Slugger – turned back the clock, the 37-year-old pitcher giving up six hits and one walk while striking out three batters.

"This was one of the first times where I felt really strong at the end," the 2009 American League (AL) Cy Young Award winner said.

"Most games I feel a little tired later on. Today it felt just as good, if not better, in the last inning, as it did in the first inning."

Astros team-mate Carlos Correa also homered twice in Buffalo, where Martin Maldonado hit a grand slam as Houston won for the fifth time in six games.

Ohtani show continues, Snell flirts with no-no

Shohei Ohtani tied a season high with 10 strikeouts as the Los Angeles Angels edged the Seattle Mariners 3-2. The two-way star did not walk a batter for the first time in his 20 career starts. He allowed two runs on four hits across six innings. Since 1900, Ohtani is the only player with 15-plus home runs in a season and at least one 10-strikeout game that year, having also achieved the feat in 2018.

The San Diego Padres blanked the New York Mets 2-0 behind ace Blake Snell, who was scoreless across seven innings. He allowed just one hit while striking out 10.

World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first MLB team to have an 11-run inning in one game and then an eight-run inning in their next outing since the Astros in 1969, according to Stats Perform. The Dodgers defeated the Atlanta Braves 9-5 thanks to an eight-run fifth inning.

Per Stats Perform, Whit Merrifield of the Kansas City Royals became the first player to have two hits, a homer and a stolen base in the opening inning of a game since Oakland's Rickey Henderson in 1980. The Royals blitzed the Minnesota Twins 14-5.

Ryu fades

Toronto ace Ryu Hyun-jin had a game to forget after a promising start. Usually the Blue Jays' most reliable pitcher, Ryu allowed seven runs on seven hits, two homers and three walks in 5.2 innings, having retired his first seven batters.

That walk-off feeling

Yermin Mercedes hit a game-ending single in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 9-8 walk-off victory over the Detroit Tigers. Mercedes snapped a 0-for-22 skid entering the game.

Friday's results

Boston Red Sox 5-2 New York Yankees
Baltimore Orioles 3-1 Cleveland Indians
Pittsburgh Pirates 9-2 Miami Marlins
Washington Nationals 2-1 Philadelphia Phillies
Houston Astros 13-1 Toronto Blue Jays
Los Angeles Dodgers 9-5 Atlanta Braves
Texas Rangers 5-4 Tampa Bay Rays
Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 Arizona Diamondbacks
Chicago White Sox 9-8 Detroit Tigers
Kansas City Royals 14-5 Minnesota Twins
Cincinnati Reds 6-4 St Louis Cardinals
Oakland Athletics 9-5 Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Angels 3-2 Seattle Mariners
San Francisco Giants 8-5 Chicago Cubs
San Diego Padres 2-0 New York Mets

Mets at Padres

Star pitcher Jacob deGrom will take to the mound as the Mets look to bounce back from back-to-back defeats to the Padres in the third meeting of a four-game series on Friday. Joe Musgrove starts for the Padres.