The Dodgers unleashed their three best pitchers on the Pirates over the weekend: Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitching the series opener, Tarik Skubal the middle game and Blake Snell the series finale on Sunday.
The results were predictable: win, win, win.
“Definitely excited about it,” Snell said.
Snell pointed out that Tyler Glasnow is set to come back from a back injury on Tuesday in the series opener in Atlanta, as well as how Shohei Ohtani is closing in on his return to the mound.
“It’s going to be a lot of good competition within the starting rotation,” Snell said. “I’m really excited about it.”
Admonishing himself for chasing strikeouts, Snell was displeased with his performance.
“I just gotta be better,” he said.
He still pitched six shutout innings in the Dodgers’ 4-0 victory.
He didn’t like that he walked three batters and hit another. Or that his inefficiency kept him from pitching into the later innings.
“Honestly,” he said, “it’s lazy.”
In the three games Snell has pitched since returning from a minor procedure to remove loose bodies from his elbow, he has allowed only two runs in 18 innings.
Snell’s solid-but-unspectacular effort was backed by a similar-quality performance by the offense.
The Dodgers collected only six hits but worked four walks and turned that into four runs. Their first run scored on a double play by Mookie Betts. The other runs were driven in by No. 8 and 9 hitters Alek Thomas and Hunter Feduccia and a groundout by Max Muncy.
“I liked the way we manufactured runs,” manager Dave Roberts said.
Roberts applauded Shohei Ohtani for setting the tone with an 11-pitch walk to start the game. Facing Pirates opener Lake Bachar, Ohtani fell behind in the count, 0-2, then fouled off the next four pitches.
“I love going 0-2 to 4-2, spoiling the pitches and working the count,” Roberts said.
Ohtani stole second base and reached third on a single by Freddie Freeman. Betts’ double-play ball got him home.
