In an epic pitcher duel, Snell and Sale embodied modern baseball

The pitching performances of Blake Snell and Chris Sale on Monday night at Oracle Park were not only thrilling, they were microcosms.

Snell and Sale had 11 and 12 strikeouts, respectively, in Atlanta’s 1-0 victory to open a key four-game series. Snell held the Braves hitless for six innings, and Sale lasted one inning longer than the Giants’ left-hander.

For the first time since 2010, Oracle Park hosted a game in which both the Giants’ starting pitcher and his opponent recorded at least 10 strikeouts. Their combined 23 strikeouts were the most by a starting pitcher duel in the ballpark’s 25-year history.

The game produced a total of 33 strikeouts — more than any other MLB game that season — a textbook example of today’s boom-or-bust baseball. Both Snell and Sale embody it as two of the era’s defining starters: strikeout specialists who took advantage of the launch angle revolution and advances in advanced pitching science.

“There are a lot of misses, as you saw last night,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “I think both of them are very aware of where the game is going.”

Snell and Sale combine high fastballs that reach over 90 miles per hour with bending breaking balls that blow the spin rate scale. Snell has won two National League Cy Young Awards and Sale is the favorite to win the honor this year.

They are not the best starting pitchers of the last 15 years – that would be Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw. But in a way, they represent the evolution of baseball that has progressed the most.

Since the advent of modern analytics, the creation of pitch labs like Driveline, and the shift to three real outcomes, Snell and Sale have been successful.

“The swings have changed,” Snell said after Monday’s loss. “Before — luckily it was 2016 when I made my debut — but even before, it was just about average and finding a way to put the ball in play. Now it’s about hitting, hitting home runs and doubles. For a guy like me who knows that, yeah, I mean, I should be pretty good at striking people out. Especially because they’re trying to get far. So there’s a lot more room for error because it’s so hard to hit a baseball straight.”

Not every pitcher dominates the upper zone and resorts to maximum force to prioritize power over pitchability. Likewise, not every hitter aims for the fences with every swing. There are still great players like Logan Webb and Luis Arraez bucking the new-age trends. But they are becoming underdogs.

Snell and Sale rank first and second, respectively, on the all-time strikeouts per nine innings list (and they’re separated by decimal places). The top 10 of the list is full of active or recently retired pitchers. Current Giants left-hander Robbie Ray is third. Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer are fourth and fifth. Yu Darvish, Stephen Strasburg and Gerrit Cole are also included.

The only two pitchers in the top 10 who debuted before 2008 are Randy Johnson and Kerry Wood. The fact that batters are retired as often as Snell and Sale are is a contemporary development.

Monday night at Oracle Park was a textbook example of how dominant Snell and Sale have been in their careers, forcing half-hearted swings and their arsenals freezing batters on throws up the middle.