Blake Snell took another step toward rejoining the Dodgers starting rotation on Tuesday night, pitching 3 2/3 innings in his fourth and potentially final minor league rehab start, this time for Triple-A Oklahoma City on the road to face the Salt Lake Bees, and Angels affiliate.
This was a labored effort for Snell, who allowed a leadoff home run, one of two longballs he gave up on Tuesday. Snell also walked four. That drove up Snell’s pitch count to 73 in 3 2/3 innings in a start the Dodgers hoped
to see Snell complete five innings.
Prior to Tuesday, Snell had excellent control on this rehab assignment, walking only one of his 29 batters faced in his first three starts, the free pass coming on July 18 for Oklahoma City in Tacoma.
Snell just four pitches into the game, after the leadoff home run by Kyren Paris, had issue with the landing spot for his front foot on the mound. The grounds crew fixed the dirt and he didn’t appear to have any problems with his delivery after that, though he did walk the aforementioned four batters after that happened.
A 27-pitch second inning didn’t help Snell’s effort to pitch deeper into the game. Two of his three strikeouts came in the fourth inning, his final frame.
Whether this was enough for the Dodgers to activate Snell next week or if he gets another rehab start remains to be seen.
