SAN FRANCISCO — Chris Sale and Blake Snell put on a pitching show Monday night in a matchup of aces before the Atlanta Braves edged the San Francisco Giants 1-0 on pinch-hitter Travis d'Arnaud's sacrifice fly in the 10th inning.
''It was a grind from the start,'' Sale said. ''Snell is about as good as you're going to see.''
Snell carried a no-hit bid through six innings for San Francisco, just 10 days after throwing his first career no-hitter at Cincinnati. The left-hander gave up Marcell Ozuna's leadoff double in the seventh on his 103rd pitch.
Matt Olson followed with an infield single, but Snell struck out Orlando Arcia before getting pulled. The two-time Cy Young Award winner struck out 11 and walked three.
Sale fanned 12 without a walk in seven innings of three-hit ball. The eight-time All-Star threw 77 of 107 pitches for strikes and lowered his ERA to 2.61 in his first season with Atlanta, which won for only the second time in nine tries and moved a game ahead of the New York Mets for the final National League wild card.
It was the left-hander's 94th career double-digit strikeout game. The combined 33 strikeouts marked the most by two starting pitchers in the history of Oracle Park.
''Sale's effort tonight really got us going,'' Braves closer Raisel Iglesias said through a translator. ''I just think it was a really good outing. It could be one of those things where it gives us a little bit of a push moving forward.''
Sean Murphy's leadoff single against Taylor Rogers (1-4) in the 10th sent Arcia, the automatic runner, from second base to third. He scored on d'Arnaud's sac fly to right field.
