Blake Snell makes dominant return to Dodgers rotation with 10 strikeouts vs Royals

Dave Roberts said multiple times in recent days that Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell looks like a man “on a mission.”

Turns out, the veteran skipper might have been underselling it.

In his latest return from a long-term injury with the Dodgers on Tuesday, Snell started making up for lost time in a hurry, spinning a six-inning, one-run gem against the Kansas City Royals to kickstart what he hopes is a dominant finish to the year.

The left-hander began the night looking almost untouchable, retiring not only the first 10 batters he faced but seven of them via strikeout. 

He gave up a run in the fourth (which only came after a broken-bat single, seeing-eye grounder and sacrifice fly) but stranded a couple of runners in scoring position later in that inning, then another at third base with no outs in the fifth.

And from there, he put a promising final touch on his long-awaited return to the Dodgers’ rotation, punctuating a three-hit, one-walk, 10-strikeout night by retiring the side in the sixth inning. 

It was, even with a limited workload of 84 pitches, a resounding reminder of his two-time Cy Young Award-winning talent. 

“Just talking to Blake over the last couple weeks, he’s as good as he’s felt in a long time,” Roberts said pregame. “There’s a little swagger. There’s a little kind of standing tall.”

Staying upright at all, of course, has been a challenge for the 33-year-old star pitcher ever since he signed a $182 million contract with the Dodgers two offseasons ago.

In his first spring with the team, he developed a shoulder injury that would plague him throughout the 2025 regular season, limiting him to just 11 starts. And though he returned in time to play a key role in the playoffs –– making five starts, three of them gems, plus a relief appearance in Game 7 of the World Series –– his shoulder issue lingered into the start of this year, delaying his season debut until May 9.

More troubles arose immediately after that three-inning, five-run start against the Atlanta Braves.

Snell experienced arm pain that led to a diagnosis of loose bodies in his elbow. He underwent a surgical procedure on May 19 (using the revolutionary and less-invasive NanoNeedle technique) that forced him to endure another elongated rehab process.

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This time, however, Snell came back feeling healthy and refreshed.

His surgery, he said, alleviated not only his elbow discomfort, but also his ongoing shoulder pains as well as numbness in his fingers. 

His stuff, he felt during his recovery, was in as good of a spot as it had been in years, leaving him increasingly anxious for Tuesday’s activation from the injured list.

Snell came out on the attack against the Royals, striking out the side in the first inning with a clinical 13-pitch sequence. He immediately had command of his fastball, dotting it at the top of the zone and to either side of his plate.

He used three different pitches to put batters away, snapping off a full-count changeup to Nick Loftin, a 98 mph heater that blew away Bobby Witt Jr., and a late-breaking, dirt-biting curveball that Jac Caglianone helplessly swung through.

After that, Snell didn’t really slow down. None of the three hits he allowed came on hard contact (the third, a leadoff double in the fifth from Tyler Tolbert, was a blooper down the right-field line). None of the four times the Royals took an at-bat with a runner in scoring position could they find a way to solve him.

In the end, it was nothing short of an all-around masterclass; one that might have (once again) been a long time in the making, but could foreshadow a flurry of dominance from Snell down the stretch this year.