Blake Snell endured some struggles against the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series after a dominant stretch in the postseason for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In his two starts, the left-hander allowed 10 runs and 14 hits with 11 strikeouts against seven walks in 11.2 innings of work. Snell remained confident of a potential bullpen appearance in the World Series, and he contributed 1.1 scoreless innings to help the Dodgers win Game 7.
That Snell enjoyed historic levels of success in October didn’t come as a surprise to Freddie Freeman, who noted his teammate as being one of the toughest pitchers to game plan against due to his velocity and ability to command the strike zone.
“I think I talk about gray hair a lot,” Freeman began. “When you face guys like him and Jacob deGrom and those kind of pitchers, you know when you wake up it’s going to be a battle that night.
“When you face a power pitcher that can locate three plus-pitches, you know it’s going to be tough. That’s the thing, like he mentioned earlier, how he pitched tonight is probably not going to be how he pitches the next time.
“It’s hard to scout, it’s hard to feel good against someone. You might have success in one game and it will be completely thrown out the door and you’re going to strike out three times. I’ve done it. He knows what he’s doing on the mound.
“I am so happy that we are sitting next to each other now and doing press conferences together and not having to be apart and walking by each other and talking about how he beat us again, because he did it a lot.
“He’s amazing. There’s a reason he’s a two-time Cy Young Award winner. He’s on the big stage now, and he’s just doing what he’s always done.”
Blake Snell’s first Dodgers season
Snell made just 11 starts during the regular season because of a left shoulder injury that sidelined him for four months. The 32-year-old wad disappointed to miss such a long stretch but tried to take solace in knowing he would be available for the playoffs.
That wound up coming to pass, and Snell was part of a Dodgers rotation that played a pivotal role in the team winning back-to-back World Series titles.
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