The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Blake Snell this offseason so he could pitch well in the biggest moments.
And he did just that in Monday’s Game 1 of the National League Championship Series at American Family Field.
The two-time Cy Young winner allowed just one hit and struck out 10 in eight shoutout innings as he led the Dodgers to a 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers to seize a 1-0 advantage in the series. Los Angeles is now three wins away from reaching back-to-back World Series.
Snell didn’t need much run support, and the only offense he got came from a Freddie Freeman homer in the sixth and a Mookie Betts RBI walk in the ninth during what was also a strong bullpen game from Milwaukee.
That last run was key because the Brewers scored in the ninth and loaded the bases before Blake Treinen struck out Brice Turang to end the game and preserve the win for Snell, who drew plenty of reaction from social media:
While both offenses were quiet in the early going with Snell and Brewers reliever Quinn Priester—who entered the game after opener Aaron Ashby pitched the first inning—pitching well, one of the biggest moments of the game came in the fourth inning when it seemed as if Los Angeles might break it open.
It was also one of the strangest plays one could ever expect to see on the baseball field.
With the bases loaded, Max Muncy drilled a deep fly ball to center field that looked to be a grand slam when it was in the air. However, Sal Frelick kept the ball in the park and threw it into the infield, where the Brewers were able to get a double play thanks to confused base runners who weren’t sure if he caught it on a fly.
Teoscar Hernández initially tagged, started running home when he thought it wasn’t caught, returned to third when it looked like it might have been, and didn’t make it to home on time. Meanwhile, Will Smith went back to second base thinking it was caught and was forced out at third for a double play and no runs.
Some teams may have allowed such an unfortunate break to linger and undercut their efforts the rest of the game, but the Dodgers’ didn’t do that. Instead, Snell continued to dominate on the mound before Freeman launched a solo homer off Chad Patrick to break the scoreless tie in the sixth.
Even one run shifted all the pressure to Milwaukee’s offense given how dialed in Snell was on the mound. The southpaw maintained the lead with a 1-2-3 sixth inning and another 1-2-3 inning in the seventh, which extended his streak of consecutive batters retired to 14.
The only question at that point was whether he would pitch a complete game, and another 1-2-3 frame in the eighth made it seem like he might.
Perhaps he should have even with 103 total pitches because closer Roki Sasaki struggled in the in the ninth and allowed a run before he was pulled for Treinen.
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