LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers had two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell on the mound for Game 5 of the World Series with a chance to take a 3-2 lead.
Instead, the Dodgers have fallen behind after losing 6-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.
While Snell is one of the Dodgers’ aces, starting his second game of the series, his latest performance wasn’t much better than the first.
The 10-year veteran allowed home runs to the first two batters he faced – to Davis Schneider on the first pitch of the game and the second to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the third pitch.
It was just the second time in MLB postseason history that a team opened a game with back-to-back home runs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Oakland Athletics were the first team to complete the feat during Game 3 of the 2002 American League Division Series.
“It’s just unlucky,” Snell said. “I’m not one to make excuses. It’s just pretty unlucky. There’s only so much you can do, and that’s baseball.”
Snell moved away from the fastball to try to shake up what he was doing throughout the rest of his outing.
“I don’t think there’s a tell,” Snell said. “I just think they were ambushing the fastball, as they should and as they thought they would.”
Blue Jays manager John Schneider anticipated there would be some level of adjustment after seeing Snell pitch in Game 1.
“You never know what adjustments a pitcher is going to make when you are facing them again in the series,” Schneider said. “It was kind of the plan (to prepare for the fastball) and I think after that he threw a lot of sliders, change-ups and curveballs. You have to be ready to adapt. … You have to be ready to hit.”
Snell would end his night in the seventh inning, allowing six hits. He also struck out seven and walked four.
“It’s hard because you can only push a starter so much,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought Blake emptied the tank. … I pushed Blake as much as I’ve pushed him all year.”
He did enough, bouncing back from the Blue Jays’ early-inning scoring and keeping Roberts from having to go to the notorious bullpen.
The Dodgers’ pitching and defense, though, followed suit with the ongoing offensive struggles, making several mistakes throughout the game.
One helped put the game further out of reach for the Dodgers. Edgardo Henriquez, who came in to replace Snell in the seventh inning, threw a wild pitch that led to Guerrero walking and allowed Addison Barger to score and increase the lead to 4-1.
Mookie Betts made an inaccurate throw to second base, giving up a chance for an easy double-play opportunity.
“Giving up bases and not converting outs when you have an opportunity to convert outs, that came back to bite us tonight,” Roberts said.