Now that the National League Championship Series is back at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, the Dodgers will have Blake Snell starting on the mound in Game 3 on Wednesday night, followed by Tyler Glasnow in Game 4 on Thursday.
This order could have been inferred after Tarik Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto were tabbed to start the first two games in Milwaukee, but manager Dave Roberts at the time didn’t feel the need to name his full rotation order at the time.
“It’s just one of those things that you need
Snell to go out there and give us some length, give us a typical Blake Snell outing and let us deploy guys with a lead. I know Blake has a bad taste in his mouth from that last outing against the Braves. So you’re going to see a locked-in, focused Snell,” Roberts said Monday night in Milwaukee. “On the other side of things, we’ve got to support him offensively too.”
Both Snell and Glasnow fought wildness in their Division Series starts, each walking five batters — Snell in 3 2/3 innings in Game 2 against the Atlanta Braves, and Glasnow in 4 2/3 innings in Game 4. Despite all the traffic on base, both escaped with only one run allowed.
Snell in his postseason career had a 3.23 ERA with 107 strikeouts and 41 walks in 86 1/3 innings, and he’s allowed two or fewer runs in 12 of his 16 starts. With the Dodgers, Snell has a 3.11 postseason ERA in seven games, including six starts, with 46 strikeouts and 18 walks in 37 2/3 innings.
Glasnow in his seven postseason appearances — four starts, three relief appearances — with the Dodgers has a 1.73 ERA in 26 innings, with 30 strikeouts and 16 walks. The team has won all seven games.
Left-hander Robert Gasser starts Game 3 for the Milwaukee Brewers, after allowing one run in four innings in his start in San Diego in Game 4 of the Division Series. The Dodgers beat Gasser twice during the regular season, allowing four runs in 4 1/3 innings on May 23 in Milwaukee and giving up three runs in 6 1/3 innings on August 14 at Dodger Stadium. He allowed home runs in those games to Teoscar Hernández, Andy Pages, and Tommy Edman.
“They know me, and I know them. I enjoy having some familiarity with a lineup,” Gasser told reporters in Milwaukee on Monday. “Definitely looking back to the game in August and kind of watching those swings, obviously hitters adjust, but being a good guy in the dugout, watching them right now and seeing how they’ve changed to now and trying to build a plan for them.”
That leaves Game 4 perhaps at least in some fashion for former Dodgers pitcher Dustin May, who pitched a scoreless inning in relief in Game 2 on Monday. Then again, every Brewers relief appearance thus far in the NLCS has been scoreless.
“He could start Game 4, who knows?” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of May. “But he’s got a role on our team right now of pitching and getting outs, and we’ve told him that, hey, we need you to be ready every day to get outs.”
