The Los Angeles Dodgers’ three-game set with the San Diego Padres at Petco Park had the feel of a postseason series, as each contest came down to the wire and featured excellent starting pitching matchups.
Sunday’s series finale was no different as Trevor Bauer and Blake Snell opposed each other for the first time with their respective new teams.
Both pitchers were on top of their game, as Bauer allowed just one run on three hits with seven strikeouts in six innings of work. Snell went only five innings by comparison, but gave up two runs and two hits while striking out seven batters.
When discussing his outing after the game, Snell noted that Bauer dug a deep hole on the mound with his cleats. The right-hander playfully responded on Twitter that it was Snell’s toe that created the issue.
Whispers *it was your toe that made the hole homie* 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/zpnRls9W6G
— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) April 19, 2021
Bauer is one of the league’s most active Twitter users, so it’s no surprise he found a clip of Snell’s comments and responded to them. While the back and forth was likely in jest, there is certainly no love lost between the Dodgers and Padres.
The opener saw Dennis Santana and Jorge Mateo have an exchange that led to benches clearing, and the following night featured Clayton Kershaw and Jurickson Profar trading barbs with each other.
Bauer trending in ‘right direction’ with Manny Machado, velocity
By taking the mound in Sunday’s finale against the Padres, Bauer was able to face Manny Machado for the first time this season. He expressed his excitement to face him throughout Spring Training, but didn’t get the opportunity.
Machado went 2-for-2 with a pair of singles against Bauer, improving to a lifetime 12-for-19. “I kept him in the park, so going in the right direction,” Bauer said.
Bauer also was pleased with his velocity progression on Sunday, as several fastballs touched in the mid-to-high 90s. “It’s generally how it happens for me as I progress into a season,” he said.
“I think that I usually hit my velo in June-ish. That’s kind of when I get to when I’m carrying 94, 95, 96 (mph) throughout an entire game.
“Really, what’s been bringing my averages down so far this year is the first couple pitches of an innings where I’m 88 or 89 (mph). I didn’t have any of those today, so that was encouraging. I’ve been doing some stuff in between innings and just trying to get that tightened up.”
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