After six innings of work in Wednesday’s Game 3 of the NLCS, Los Angeles Dodgers lefty Blake Snell had more than done his job. After allowing a first-pitch home run to the first batter of the game, Snell settled in and rode a crackling fastball in front of his abundant secondaries to a nine-strikeout, one-walk performance in which he allowed only that one run. Manager Dave Roberts, though, decided to let Snell come out for the seventh inning, and that proved a crucial decision in the eventual 6-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers that pushed the Dodgers to the brink of elimination.
Snell entered the seventh inning having faced 21 batters, which put him well into the perilous third time through the opposing order. The Brewers’ four-five-six batters were due up, and a right-handed batter, Andrew Vaughn, was due up first. Snell walked him on seven pitches. Then Jake Bauers stepped in, and Roberts left Snell in to face the lefty. On the 11th and final pitch of the marathon at-bat, Bauers turned the game on its ear:
Snell’s night still wasn’t over, even after being worked for 18 pitches by the previous two batters. Another lefty, Garrett Mitchell, ignored the platoon disadvantage and made it back-to-back homers off a laboring Snell:
That was the first time in Snell’s career that he’d allowed consecutive home runs to left-handed batters. Given the punchless Dodgers offensive attack, those two homers all but ended the game and the series. That put Roberts’ decision to push his luck with Snell under the microscope.
“I just saw that through the sixth inning, and then once we got to the seventh inning, I think he retired 13 or 14 in a row and his stuff was really good,” Roberts said postgame of his decision to stick with Snell. “I don’t think they were seeing him well. I was trying to get him three more hitters. We had Evan (Phillips) for that fourth hitter. He had his way with those two lefties and took care of Vaughn.
“Obviously the leadoff walk hurt. Hasn’t given up a homer all year, but it just — it’s baseball. For me, I felt good with where Blake’s stuff was at. You’ve got to give Bauers credit. He put together another good at-bat, which he did at their place and spurred that rally, and then right there saw eight, nine pitches and ended up hitting a homer.”
And of the decision to stay with Snell even after the Bauers home run, Roberts said:
“The Bauers at-bat, it’s the middle of the at-bat, so he’s going to finish that at-bat. Then he gives up a homer, you’re down a run. For me, I just don’t think it made sense, given where he was throwing the baseball, pitch count, all that stuff, to allow him to get through Mitchell, where I thought he took — he was throwing well against him, yeah.”
Snell indeed had not allowed a home run all season up until Game 3. That season, though, has been far from a full one thanks to shoulder and elbow issues.
He also didn’t allow a home run in his NLDS start against the Braves. That, however, was never going to last, especially with a pitcher like Snell, who doesn’t have any ground-ball tendencies of note. Regression on that home runs allowed front was always coming for him, and it came in Game 3 at just the wrong time. Making it all possible was Roberts’ decision to let Snell pitch longer than he should have.
