CINCINNATI — Just as well – the Dodgers probably were not in the mood for a party anyway.
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With their magic number down to one, they had a chance to clinch the National League West with a win on Wednesday night. But Blake Snell lasted just one inning, leaving the game with tightness in his left groin muscle, and the Dodgers went on to lose to the Cincinnati Reds, 6-2.
The Dodgers can clinch their 13th division title in the past 14 years on Thursday afternoon against the Reds. But Snell has joined a growing list of players with injury concerns on the eve of the postseason.
On a miserably hot and humid day in Cincinnati, Snell said he felt fine until one pitch during his warmups in the bullpen before the game.
“I felt good all day, and then the second-to-last pitch of the bullpen, I threw a slider and then I felt it grab,” Snell said. “So I was like, ‘Alright, let’s see what we can do.’ Threw one more pitch and then went down to the dugout.
“And then I was warming up (for the bottom of the first inning) and I was like, ‘Ah, it doesn’t feel that great. We’ll see what we can get through.’ And then I was just talking with myself throughout that first inning. I was gonna try to get through five, but I just knew I didn’t really have a good shot at doing that and remaining healthy. So after the first inning, I went down and talked with (Manager) Dave (Roberts), (pitching coach) Mark (Prior), Thomas (Albert, the head athletic trainer), and that’s what they thought was best.”
It is an injury with which Snell is quite familiar. He spent time on the injured list during the 2021, 2022 and twice in the 2024 seasons with similar issues. He rated this one as being less severe than those previous injuries and gave himself credit for not trying to push through and making it worse.
“I’ve strained it four different times,” he said. “So I’m aware if I kept pitching, I definitely would’ve strained it. So for me to stop, that’s a first. Maybe I’m growing up. I don’t know. But that was definitely the right move. And next couple days, we’ll see where we’re at and go from there.
“(Previously) I felt like that and then I kept pitching on two of them and strained both of them. One was a grade one, one was a grade two. So I’m definitely happy I stopped. But see how the next couple days go.”
Snell was optimistic he will be “good to go” for at least one more start before the end of the regular season.
“Obviously happy that he alerted us early to get him out of the game, not make it worse,” Roberts said. “He told me that he felt some tightness in his left groin, and it didn’t loosen up. So obviously, the right decision was to get him out. I think, No. 1 is we’ll see how he comes in tomorrow, how he feels, get some more treatment and then when we get back to L.A., then we can make that decision if we want to get imaging.
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“I don’t think anyone can sit here right now and say what’s going to happen in the next week to 10 days.”
After getting seven scoreless innings from Tarik Skubal on Monday and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Tuesday, the Dodgers sent out Snell on Wednesday expecting more of the same.
The left-hander gave up a two-out single in the first inning then picked the runner off, retiring the side on 19 pitches. But he didn’t come back out for the second inning, pulled with the groin discomfort.
“Well, technically, I still do. I didn’t strain it, so that was a good thing,” said Snell, who has adjusted his workouts to try and strengthen that area after the recurring injuries. “I haven’t felt it at all (since 2024) until that pitch in the bullpen, and I was just kind of thrown off by it. So I’ve done what I’ve needed to do to be strong and healthy. Definitely a shock to me.”
With Snell’s early exit, the Dodgers found themselves in an unplanned bullpen game – with another one likely coming on Thursday.
The parade of six relievers that followed Snell included Seth Halvorsen, who gave up a two-run home run to Elly De La Cruz in the third inning. The 391-foot drive into the right field seats was a modest blast by the standards De La Cruz has set against the Dodgers. He has hit a home run in five of the six games the Reds and Dodgers have played this season.
Freshly recalled from Triple-A, Bobby Miller was asked to soak up as many innings as he could. He gave up a solo home run to Dane Myers in the fifth inning and the Reds pulled away with two runs against Jack Dreyer in the seventh.
Before the game, Roberts said he was hoping to see his offense become more productive down the stretch because “in the postseason you just don’t get a whole lot of opportunities so you have to be able to cash in” when you do.
The offense didn’t get the message.
The Dodgers had eight baserunners in the first five innings (five walks, three hits) but could only convert one into a run on Will Smith’s RBI double in the third inning. They pushed across another run in the sixth but went 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base in the game.
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