SAN FRANCISCO — Blake Snell made a brief appearance in the Giants’ clubhouse Wednesday morning. He stopped by his locker, checked his phone and dashed out the door. Blink, and you’d miss him.
The same could be said about the start of his Giants tenure, which hit another bump in the road when he was scratched before first pitch of their series finale against the Mets and placed on the injured list with a strained adductor muscle in his left groin, which manager Bob Melvin deemed moderate.
It’s an issue Snell said he has dealt with twice before, in 2021 and 2022, missing up to a month. This time, he said, he hoped to be back in two weeks, which would be close to the minimum amount of time missed. He is eligible to be activated on May 8.
“It’s a groin, so I don’t know,” the 31-year-old left-hander cautioned. “Arm feels good. Body feels good. Groin is the only thing that will get there. I’m a lot more confident right now compared to ‘21. I knew it was going to be a while. In ‘22 I was more optimistic. And I’m feeling even better about this one. We caught it early.”
Given his delayed start to the season and limited contributions so far, Snell said he was “obviously disappointed” by the setback.
“I was pretty excited about what I was going to be able to do today if I pitched,” Snell said.
Instead, the Giants were forced to employ a bullpen game, which surrendered eight runs in an 8-2 loss.
Snell felt a twinge in his groin muscle Monday toward the end of his most-recent bullpen session. He shut it down then, feeling something similar to what he had in 2021 and ’22. When he tried to throw again Tuesday, his suspicions were confirmed.
“I felt really good this week throwing,” Snell said. “Even during the bullpen I was like, ‘Man I feel really good. Ball’s coming out good.’ Made some adjustments that I think will be big for me. … Now I’ve got to change my focus to get back healthy and get back to pitching.”
Asked to specify the adjustments he had made, Snell said, “you’ll see.”
Waiting until March 19 to sign a two-year, $62 million free-agent contract, Snell didn’t make his first start until the fourth series of the season while occupying an active roster spot from Opening Day. The Giants are winless in the three starts he has made and in the two turns he has already missed. He has yet to make it out of the fifth inning while allowing opponents to hit .340 against him and has an 11.57 ERA.
Snell downplayed the suggestion that his truncated spring training could have led to his physical troubles in the first month of the season.
“I don’t want to make any excuses,” he said. “Whatever happened before, I should have been ready. I had some bad starts, but you learn from them and get a lot better from them. Just keep getting better.”
Melvin said, “It was a quick build-up, but there were reasons for the quick build-up. Obviously to lose him for we don’t know how long yet is not great.”
Where the Giants turn to cover Snell’s spot in the rotation is to be determined — Melvin and new pitching coach Bryan Price have tried to stay away from bullpen games — but they should be aided somewhat by their upcoming schedule. They have two off days before Snell is eligible, and they could potentially only need to fill one more of his turns in the rotation.
After Thursday’s day off, the Giants have Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks and Keaton Winn lined up to start the final three games of their home stand against the Pirates, all on an extra day of rest. With another day off Monday before their series in Boston, all three could pitch again on regular rest after Logan Webb before Snell’s turn.
“We do want to give some extra days to some guys,” Melvin said. “I definitely want to try to get Webby an extra day based on the (league-leading 38 ⅔) innings he’s thrown.”
Mason Black, who has a 1.53 ERA in four starts at Triple-A Sacramento, is “definitely an option,” Melvin said. “But I’m not sure where we’re going with that.”
As for their immediate needs, the bullpen was well-positioned to take down an entire game after Logan Webb tossed eight scoreless innings the previous night. With Ryan Walker reclaiming the opener role — which he performed 13 times last season with a 2.21 ERA — the Giants used seven pitchers in the loss.