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 home the first pitch in the game’s first at-bat, Snell settled down and rode the plate batter in front of a prolific secondary to nine hitters, one walk in which he allowed just one run. Manager Dave Roberts, though, decided to let Snell go out in the seventh inning, and it proved to be a big decision. the result was a 6-2 loss to the Rome Brewers That pushed the Dodgers to the brink of elimination.
Snell entered the seventh inning with 21 pitches, which put him in the most dangerous position at third through the opposite order. Four or five brewer’s batteries are due, and Andrew Vaughn used to use the right hand first. Pindarus walked him with seven voices. Then, with Jake Bauers coming in, Roberts Snell left to left. On the 11th and final marathon at-bat pitch, Bauers turned the beast on its ear;
Snell’s night was still out, even after 18 pitches from the previous two batters. Another lefty, Garrett Mitchell, ignored the team’s handicap and returned it as back-to-back homers from the struggling Pindar;
It was the first time in Snell’s career that he allowed consecutive home runs to hit batters. Given the offensive attack of the Dodgers, those two dances almost ended the game and the series. That put Robert’s plan under the microscope to push his luck with Snell.
“I 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 he looked good. I was trying to get him to get three more hitters. We had Evang (Phillips) for that fourth hitter. And with those two left, he had to go and take care of Vaughn.
“Definitely a bad leadoff walk. He hasn’t given up a homer all year, but it’s just – it’s baseball. For me, I felt good with what Blake’s stuff was. Give Bauers credit. He got another good at-bat, which he did in his place and got that rally going, and then there seemed to be eight, nine pitches.”
And the decision to stay with Snell even after the Bauers run home, Roberts said;
“The Bauers at-bat, that’s the middle of the at-bat, so that he can complete that at bat. Then he throws the ball, you’re running down. For me, I just don’t think he felt, given where the baseball, the pitch count, all those things he was throwing, to allow him to get through Mitchell, where I thought hey.”
Snell actually didn’t allow a home run all season until Game 3. That season, though, was far from all thanks to shoulder and elbow issues.
He also didn’t allow a home run in his NLDS start against the Braves. However, that will never last, especially with a pitcher like Pindar who doesn’t have any noticeable ball tendencies. He allowed a comeback in that home run with the front always coming for him, and it came in Game 3 at the wrong time. As far as it was possible, it was Robert’s plan to go further than Snell had to.