One strategy to hold Dodger relievers from ruining the crew’s postseason run is to maintain the bullpen gate closed for so long as potential.
Blake Snell gave that technique a whirl in Recreation 1 of the Nationwide League wild-card sequence Tuesday, pitching a stable — generally good —- seven innings. However even then he and his teammates needed to wait out the nightly bullpen meltdown earlier than escaping with a 10-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds to take a 1-0 lead within the best-of-three sequence.
“Blake was fantastic tonight,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “You could see he was in complete control. The fastball was great. The change-up was plus.
“Kind of mixing and matching and he really was in control the entire game.”
The bullpen? Not a lot. However we’ll get to that in a minute.
For Snell, it was that mixing and matching that made him so powerful, Cincinnati supervisor Terry Francona mentioned.
“The big difference-maker was his change-up,” Francona mentioned. “It was his ability to manipulate the change-up, even vary it. He’d throw one that was 87 [mph] and one that was 82. And he threw two, three, four in a row at times at times, all different speeds.
“You throw a 97 [mph fastball] in there, and it becomes difficult.”
Snell was environment friendly from the beginning, retiring the aspect within the first on seven pitches. He set down the primary eight Reds so as, then after giving up a double and stroll within the third, retired the subsequent 10 in a row, permitting him to pitch deep into the sport.
Given the bullpen’s continued struggles, that’s prone to be a blueprint the Dodgers will proceed to comply with within the playoffs.
“It felt good to go deep in the ballgame,” mentioned Snell, whose seven innings matched a season excessive. “I felt really in control, I could read swings and just kind of navigate through the lineup.
Dodgers fans cheer for Blake Snell as he walks off the mound in the fifth inning.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“The deeper that the starters go in the game, it means we’re pitching good. But it means you’re giving the bullpen a break. So it just makes for a different game that favors us.”
Tuesday’s begin was Snell’s eleventh, for 3 groups, within the postseason. Nevertheless it was his first since 2022. Getting again to October was one purpose why the left-hander signed with the Dodgers 10 months in the past (the five-year $182-million contract the crew was supplied was one more reason).
“It’s awesome,” mentioned Snell, who was carrying a blue hoodie emblazoned with the Dodgers playoff slogan “Built For Fall” throughout the entrance. “There’s nothing better than pitching a postseason game in front of your home crowd. To be able to enjoy that, it meant a lot.”
And Snell took benefit, breezing into the seventh having given up only a hit. He didn’t surrender a run till Elly De La Cruz’s fielder’s alternative grounder with two out within the inning.
De La Cruz would rating the Reds’ second run on Tyler Stephenson’s double three pitches later.
Snell obtained the subsequent hitter to finish the menace, with the seven innings pitched marking a profession playoff finest. He had matched his playoff excessive with 9 strikeouts by the sixth inning, which he wanted simply 70 pitches to finish. He wound up throwing 91 pitches, giving up 4 hits and a stroll, earlier than Roberts went to the bullpen to begin the eighth, with predictable outcomes.
Alex Vesia was the primary man by way of the gate and he retired simply one of many three batters he confronted. He was adopted by flamethrower Edgardo Henriquez, who walked the primary two hitters and gave up a success to the third, forcing in two runs.
Jack Dreyer was subsequent and he walked in one other run. After getting into the inning down by eight runs, Cincinnati introduced the tying run to the on-deck circle with one out.
Dreyer finally settled down, retiring the aspect, however the three pitchers wanted 59 pitches — and half-hour — to get by way of the inning. By the point Blake Treinen got here on to complete issues off, starter Emmet Sheehan had began warming up.
All informed, Roberts wanted 4 relievers to get the ultimate six outs, leaving the Dodgers hoping for a Snell-like efficiency from Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Recreation 2 on Wednesday to keep away from straining the bullpen additional.
“Those guys are on their heels with the lead we have,” Roberts mentioned of the Reds getting into the eighth inning. “When you start being too fine and getting behind, you start giving them free bases, that’s how you can build innings and get momentum. So that’s what I saw in that inning there for sure.
“If we don’t feel comfortable using certain guys with an eight-run lead, then we’ve got to think through some things.”
Perhaps Snell will get an opportunity to complete what he begins subsequent outing. It’s actually no worse than the choice.
