Blake Snell had his way with Class-A hitters in his second minor league rehab start on Tuesday night. The Dodgers left-hander struck out six in three scoreless innings for Ontario against the Lake Elsinore Storm, a San Diego Padres affiliate.
Snell struck out all three batters he faced in the first inning, then allowed a leadoff double in the second but struck out the next three batters to escape that frame unscathed. He needed only five pitches to complete a perfect third inning with a flyout and
two groundouts.
In all, Snell threw 39 pitches on Tuesday, 29 for strikes. He induced 11 swinging strikes, and retired nine of his 10 batters faced.
This was the second rehab start with Ontario for Snell, who started the season on the injured list with shoulder fatigue. Last Wednesday with the Tower Buzzers in San Jose, Snell pitched one-plus inning and threw 32 pitches, and allowed two runs, one earned, with one walk and no strikeouts.
“The first two starts are like — for me, I’m very patient. I just want to see how I feel, how I respond, what’s working, what’s not working. If offspeed is really good, if the fastball is really good, I want to learn how they’re playing,” Snell told reporters last week in San Francisco after his first rehab start. “After those first two starts, that’s when you get more aggressive, like okay now we need to make it happen.”
