Blake Snell looked healthy in his final regular season start and Kiké Hernández homered in the ninth inning to give the Dodgers a 4-3 win over the Giants on Saturday afternoon at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
Snell allowed only one run in his four innings and at the very least showed no limitations from leaving his start with left groin tightness on September 16 in Cincinnati. The Dodgers weren’t going to push Snell on Saturday, but more wanted to make sure he got one more start in before the postseason starts in a week.
“If he can go five innings and come out of it feeling great, that would be fantastic,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters at Oracle Park earlier Saturday, as shown on SportsNet LA. “There’s a balance between getting your work in and making sure you feel good coming out of it.”
Snell threw 77 pitches in his four innings so he wasn’t all that efficient, though he didn’t walk anyone and threw his two fastest pitches of the season — first-inning fastballs at 98.6 mph and 98.2 mph — while averaging 96.8 mph on the fastball on Saturday.
The lone run came when Jonah Cox doubled to open the third inning, stole third base, and scored on a sacrifice fly.
San Francisco swiped two bases Saturday off Snell, who has allowed 10 steals in his nine starts this season. But Snell has limited the damage by simply not allowing many people to reach, with only 25 hits and 14 walks in 39 2/3 innings, a .260 on-base percentage since returning from the injured list.
Snell since returning allowed only five runs, never more than one in any start. On the season he did not allow a home run, his 42 2/3 innings the seventh-most by a Dodgers pitcher in the live-ball era without giving up a long ball.
|
Pitcher |
Season |
Innings |
ERA |
|
Jack Billingham |
1968 |
71 1/3 |
2.14 |
|
Brandon League |
2014 |
63 |
2.57 |
|
Newt Kimball |
1941 |
52 |
3.63 |
|
Joe Beimel |
2008 |
49 |
2.02 |
|
Dutch Henry |
1924 |
46 |
5.67 |
|
Brandon Morrow |
2017 |
43 2/3 |
2.06 |
|
Blake Snell |
2026 |
42 2/3 |
1.90 |
Just like last Sunday at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers did the bulk of their damage after Matt Wilkinson left. The rookie left-hander, who pitched five scoreless innings in Los Angeles before the Dodgers scored single runs in the next three innings to complete a weekend sweep, on Saturday held the Dodgers without a run until Mookie Betts hit one into the left field seats in the third inning.
Betts has seven home runs in September, after hitting five combined home runs in July and August. It’s been a month to remember for Betts, who raised his seasonal OPS from .701 at the start of September to .783 now, with just one day remaining in the regular season.
Wilkinson was done after three innings, and the Dodgers immediately responded with four singles and a walk in the fourth inning to score two runs.
San Francisco clawed back with single runs in the seventh and eighth innings, before Hernández took Trent Harris deep to open the ninth inning.
Treinen hurt?
Brock Stewart pitched the bottom of the seventh inning but was allotted extra warm-up pitches as he entered the game. He wasn’t warming up in the bullpen before getting called in, but Blake Treinen was before suddenly stopping. In the top of the eighth, the SportsNet LA broadcast showed footage from the Dodgers bullpen, showing bullpen coach Josh Bard embracing Treinen, then of Treinen walking back to the Dodgers dugout and clubhouse with trainer Bernard Li.
Treinen missed two and a half months with elbow inflammation before returning in September, when he has allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings, with three walks and six strikeouts.
Saturday particulars
Home runs: Mookie Betts (23), Kiké Hernández (4)
WP — Evan Phillips (3-2): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 strikeout
LP — Trent Harris (0-1): 1 IP, 2 hits, 1 run
Sv — Tanner Scott (25): 1 IP, 1 hit, 2 strikeouts
Up next
One more regular season game to go, with the Dodgers and Giants starting at roughly the same time as nearly everybody else in the majors on Sunday (12:05 p.m., SportsNet LA).
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