Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Blake Snell is feeling confident heading into his Game 5 start for the World Series lead on Wednesday.
The Dodgers are tied 2-2 after the Toronto Blue Jays delivered a rousing offensive performance and a strong pitching day from their arms.
Los Angeles could not cash in their runners, despite getting some traffic on the bases, while the Blue Jays came up with several clutch hits that kept innings going.
Their offense is flowing, while the Dodgers have been slumping since the second half of Game 3.
The middle and bottom of the order for the Dodgers not producing forces southpaw Blake Snell to step up and try to limit as much damage as possible.
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Snell’s Game 1 start was rough. He only pitched five innings and was charged with five runs while throwing four strikeouts and three walks. In total, he allowed eight hits during the game and could not produce swing-and-miss stuff.
Despite his woeful performance — by his standards — Snell is looking forward to making some adjustments and, hopefully, delivering a gem on Wednesday.
“Like, good or bad start the first game, it doesn’t matter because the second game, I always feel, is going to be better because — they always say it’s advantage hitter because they have seen you, but I think it’s advantage pitcher because you’ve pitched against them, you know what they can do, it’s fresh in your head, you have an idea,” Snell said before his outing.
“I just pitched against them and didn’t execute, and now I have an opportunity to go execute and see how good I am and how much those five days in between got me locked in to be the best version of me.
“I like it a lot and I’m going to pitch the same to some guys, different to some guys. Like, you’re going to go through that battle. But I like it because there’s a comfort to it. Like, you’ve already faced them, you know what they can do, now you just got to execute.”
Before Game 1, Snell had been dominant in the postseason, and even with the blown-up outing, he still has a measly 2.42 ERA and 2.21 FIP.
If he can generate more chases and limit the amount of walks, Snell can potentially give the Dodgers some length and protect the vulnerable bullpen.
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