Blake Snell continued his rehab assignment on Sunday and turned in an encouraging start for Triple-A Oklahoma City as he continues to make progress toward returning to the Los Angeles Dodgers rotation.
The left-hander allowed just one run on four hits and collected six strikeouts in four innings of work against the Sacramento River Cats (San Francisco Giants affiliate). He threw 58 pitches (38 strikes) and walked only one batter.
Blake Treinen entered after Snell and pitched a scoreless inning.
Snell has now made three rehab starts and could rejoin the Dodgers after his next Minor League outing this weekend.
“He’s going to have another one, it’ll probably be Saturday,” manager Dave Roberts said of Snell. “So he’ll have another one on Saturday, and it’ll be a five (innings) and 75 (pitches). And then at that point in time, it’ll be a conversation on if he comes back with us or does another one.
“And Blake (Treinen) was good too.”
Roberts didn’t specify where Snell will pitch on Saturday, but it’s conceivable he could remain with the Comets as they have a road game in Reno. It’s also plausible Snell makes another start for Single-A Rancho Cucamonga as they are playing at home.
To this point, the 32-year-old has made one start each for the Quakes, Arizona Complex League Dodgers and Comets. In those three rehab games, he has pitched to a 2.00 ERA and 1.00 WHIP with 17 strikeouts against one walk across nine innings.
Snell has been on the injured list since April 6 (retroactive to April 3) because of left shoulder inflammation. He made just two starts for the Dodgers while initially attempting to pitch through the shoulder trouble.
Dodgers outlook with Blake Snell
Snell’s imminent return would give the Dodgers their most complete rotation in quite some time, with Tyler Glasnow recently rejoining the group and Shohei Ohtani continuing to build up. L.A. could potentially get back Roki Sasaki around the end of August as well.
However, Tony Gonsolin remains shut down from throwing and it’s fair to wonder if he will be able to contribute again this season. Dustin May also appears destined to make the rest of his appearances out of the bullpen as the Dodgers look to manage his workload.
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