One way to keep Dodger relievers from ruining the team’s postseason run is to keep the bullpen gate closed for as long as possible.
Blake Snell gave that strategy a whirl in Game 1 of the National League wild-card series Tuesday, pitching a solid — sometimes brilliant —- seven innings. But even then he and his teammates had to wait out the nightly bullpen meltdown before escaping with a 10-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
“Blake was fantastic tonight,” manager Dave Roberts said. “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 so much. But we’ll get to that in a minute.
Read more: Plaschke: Dodgers flatten overmatched Reds in unwanted first round. But about that bullpen…
For Snell, it was that mixing and matching that made him so tough, Cincinnati manager Terry Francona said.
“The big difference-maker was his change-up,” Francona said. “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 efficient from the start, retiring the side in the first on seven pitches. He set down the first eight Reds in order, then after giving up a double and walk in the third, retired the next 10 in a row, allowing him to pitch deep into the game.
Given the bullpen’s continued struggles, that’s likely to be a blueprint the Dodgers will continue to follow in the playoffs.
“It felt good to go deep in the ballgame,” said Snell, whose seven innings matched a season high. “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 start was Snell’s 11th, for three teams, in the postseason. But it was his first since 2022. Getting back to October was one reason why the left-hander signed with the Dodgers 10 months ago (the five-year $182-million contract the team was offered was another reason).
“It’s awesome,” said Snell, who was wearing a blue hoodie emblazoned with the Dodgers playoff slogan “Built For Fall” across the front. “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 advantage, breezing into the seventh having given up just a hit. He didn’t give up a run until Elly De La Cruz’s fielder’s choice grounder with two out in the inning.
De La Cruz would score the Reds’ second run on Tyler Stephenson’s double three pitches later.
Snell got the next hitter to end the threat, with the seven innings pitched marking a career playoff best. He had matched his playoff high with nine strikeouts by the sixth inning, which he needed just 70 pitches to complete. He wound up throwing 91 pitches, giving up four hits and a walk, before Roberts went to the bullpen to start the eighth, with predictable results.
Alex Vesia was the first man through the gate and he retired just one of the three batters he faced. He was followed by flamethrower Edgardo Henriquez, who walked the first two hitters and gave up a hit to the third, forcing in two runs.
Jack Dreyer was next and he walked in another run. After entering the inning down by eight runs, Cincinnati brought the tying run to the on-deck circle with one out.
Dreyer eventually settled down, retiring the side, but the three pitchers needed 59 pitches — and 30 minutes — to get through the inning. By the time Blake Treinen came on to finish things off, starter Emmet Sheehan had started warming up.
Read more: Dodgers waste no time finding their October groove in Game 1 win over Reds
All told, Roberts needed four relievers to get the final six outs, leaving the Dodgers hoping for a Snell-like performance from Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 on Wednesday to avoid straining the bullpen further.
“Those guys are on their heels with the lead we have,” Roberts said of the Reds entering 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.”
Maybe Snell will get a chance to finish what he starts next time out. It’s certainly no worse than the alternative.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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