Dodgers Hold Off Brewers in NLCS Game 1, Blake Snell Throws 8 IP, 1 H | MLB on TBS

Dodgers Hold Off Brewers in NLCS Game 1, Blake Snell Throws 8 IP, 1 H | MLB on TBS

Unbelievable. Well, let’s just Hi, how are you? Adam Lefgo, Curtis Granderson, Jimmy Rollins, and Pedro Martinez. When I tell you that we witnessed a performance that we haven’t seen since 1956. I’m talking Don Larson. Blake Snell went up there and faced 24 batters in eight innings, the minimum that you can face. He had 10 strikeouts. He pitched eight innings, which he had never done before. This is an all-time performance. His teammates are bowing to him in the dugout. As we are here in left field, we were watching Brewers fans leave this stadium and then the rally caps came out. But this performance, let’s get this and then in the ninth inning, Pedro, this was unbelievable. Well, at if I see it in a regular game in the regular season, I’ll be impressed. But to be able to see it in the postseason, I mean, it’s just something that you cannot even explain. But if anybody is capable of throwing something like that, it’s a guy like Blake Snail. A guy that can block the noise. A guy that has the best stuff out there for a lefty. Especially in the form he is right now. He’s like into in his 13th outing for the entire season. He is fresh. He’s good. And he’s lethal for anybody. That last stat we put up, nine or more strikeouts, two or less hits. The only other guys to do it multiple times, Roger Clemens, Josh Becket, Garrick Cole, they did it twice. He has now done it five times. Jimmy Blakes now was unconscious. He really, he really is. And remember, we’ve seen him on the big stage. And let’s not forget, he grew up in a in the AL East. So, he’s pitched in big markets against some of the best players. But remember, in the World Series, we were asking ourselves, why would you take Blake Snell out in that situation when the Dodgers were not putting up any runs, any solid hits? That is continuing. He’s back on this stage where he likes to be. And as Pedro said, he’s in his prime. He didn’t pitch all season long. So we start to hit that stretch of where every pitcher goes through the stretch where they’re just unbelievable. He’s doing it on the biggest stage at the best times when his the biggest times when his team when his team needs the most. But this is historic. We talked about it how nothing’s ever straight. He sets up the pit battles with the pitches in then he goes away. Once you get to a swing mode, you’re done. And you know what? Look at him walking off right here. We talked about Freddy being exhausted. He didn’t look like he broke a sweat. He didn’t look like he was breathing hard. It looked like it was a normal game for him. That was the most impressive thing for me out there. Scouting report, remember you gave it pregame. He’s not as great on the road as he is at home. He went into Philly. He comes here to Milwaukee. Those two games, 14 innings, 19 strikeouts, two hits. Who said he wasn’t good on the road? The scouting report. His RA was two or three points higher. It was in crazy. Uh let’s get to the play that we’ve never seen before and may never see again. a 404 ft ground into double play. We were sitting back there. We’re trying to figure out what’s going on. Jimmy, what happened? What? Chaos. I mean, extreme chaos. But shoot happened. Regardless, everything happened. Tioskar has one job. Tag up and score regardless. The umpires, they come in and play for the runners on first and second cuz they have to decide, do we advance? Do we go back and tag? Is it a live ball? But as a runner on third, you have one job, that is to tag up and score. And as soon as that ball hits the outfield’s glove, even if it pops out, that’s considered the start of that catch. So for him to go and really, he’s watching the play. Once you see that ball hits his glove, it doesn’t matter what happens. You’re supposed to score. Everybody else, you let them, you know, figure it out. But you have to get that one run. You secure one run. And he didn’t do that. We’ve never seen it before. It was definitely confusing to see it hit his glove, hit off the wall, but the umpire was right on it. He was given a safe sign immediately and Tiasco just got caught, you know, watching the play and that’s something you can’t do this time of year. And what’s interesting there, the umpire did make the correct call, but keep in mind in the postseason you normally don’t have an umpire in the left field side of things. There’s usually only four umpires in a regular season game. For the postseason, you got six. So once this ball goes to the outfield and the center field does an amazing job trying to bring it back in, as soon as it hits off his glove, like Jimmy said, you can tag and advance. Once it hits the wall, now it’s a hit. And that’s where everyone got slightly confused. And typically the umpire that would be making that call would be one of the infield umpires. So you might be able to face the one out there. But since there’s two extra umpires, especially the one out in left field, which you’re going to possibly see here, that’s what makes it challenge right there. But to your point, Jimmy, once you tag, you just got to go. Even if it’s caught or even if it’s bobbled, as soon as it’s touched, it’s either a hit or it’s a sacrifice fly and you got to keep going. And check the umpire out right here. He’s in great position. And Jimmy, you pointed this out. If you’re the runner on second or even the runner from first to second, you don’t see that umpire. So, you don’t know exactly what the call is. So, for them, I give them a little bit of grace there. They didn’t know. They had never seen this play happen. They thought it was a catch because he ended up with the ball in his glove. And if it’s done correctly, it ends up Tayaska scores. Bases are still loaded again. If everybody advances and it’s two outs, that’s probably how it should happen. But no matter what happens, if you’re the runner on third and that situations situation happens, the outfielder goes back, your job is to tag up and score. Let everything else happen behind you. And he didn’t do that. And and it almost cost them. It almost cost them. Uh but you know what the good thing is? The good news. What’s that, Pedro? The Dodgers win. So they’re going to rethink the the the play later on. Even though for everybody at home, that’s why you watch a good postseason game because every single game has a different DNA. Only us humans have different DNAs. Every baseball game is the only thing that looks like us has their own unique DNA. Yeah. So that’s why it’s important to watch. But this is something that we did not expect to see. I I have never seen it happen in my long career. Uh it Rightfully so. If you saw some of the runners kind of confused on that play, it is because we never seen this kind of play. We’re going to pick it up in the top of the six. So, that crazy double play just happened. Snells in the middle of tearing apart this Brewers team and then stepping to the plate. Freddy Freeman giving us a ding. Dung Johnson and waking up. You know, we were he was one of the bats that the Dodgers needed to get going and this could be the game that gets him going. If he gets going and everybody else over there, this could be a tough series, but almost graze the roof, Jimmy. I mean, you know, Freddy was out there shooting jumpers. He said he’s getting ready for basketball season. Sometimes when you step back beyond the half court that that 3/4 shot, got to get it up up there and he was nothing but that, baby. And get that arc, right? Yeah. That there you go. That’s really all we thought they needed. Blake Snell went 103 pitches. That change up a 61% whiff rate for 10ks, one hit, zero walks. Blake Snell out of his mind. They couldn’t see that boy tonight. I I would say not out of his mind, in his element. That’s where he was. He was exactly where he needed to be. So they bring in Roki Sasaki, who had been a wonder kid in this playoff. And this is when it started to go crazy. Bower ground rule double. Hope is back in American Family Field. Cheerio sacrifice fly RBI. Now they’re within one run and two outs. And then the face of this Brewers team for about the last seven, eight years, Yellish steps to the plate and steps his way to first base. This forces a pitching change. Blake Trinan comes in and now we got runners on the corners. Contrarus walks and Tang is up. You talk about building confidence. This is something that puts someone in a big moment. Don’t shy away from it. He has been your guy before. You got to give him the ball again. trying to with his first save since April. Roki Sasaki had come in, pitched five and a third and was really untouchable in the postseason. And we will talk about where is his confidence now, but after you face Snell, you can tell manager Murphy still processing what he witnessed on the bump. He was great. Uh his sequencing and in in terms of throwing his change up is effective. His change up and slider were incredible. The kid was incredible. I’ve seen him pitch like that before. Um, I think it was it’s most dominant performance against us. Uh, I’ve been here 10 years. I think that’s the the kid Swollenbach from Atlanta had one against us earlier. Kind of in the shadows. It was kind of different, but kid was amazing. And Will Smith, the way he called the game and it’s just it was unusual um the way he did it. He didn’t go back and forth, back and forth. He just went change up, change up, change up, change up. And the ball was moving so much and it was such a great pitch. He recognized it and stayed with it. And uh so I credit Smith, too. And Snell was he was unbelievable. Pedro, during the game, you you can see Snell going and he’s calling his own game. I asked you in the green room, did you call your own pitches? You said you did. So, there’s also an appreciation not just of striking out guys, but having the blueprint and the game plan. We see him in the dugout looking at everything, the mind as well as the physical performance. That’s why I told you earlier, not not too long ago, about a minute ago, that he was in his own elements that he was locked in from pitch one to pitch 101. I I I I have never seen anything like it in the postseason. And I was part of a lot of postseason games and and I’ve seen a lot of great pitchers, including that Roger Clemens that once did it too. But five times that this guy has been able to do this kid has an aura for the for the big game. And not only the aura, but he also has the spot. Very deceiving, over the top. He he has mature as he goes and his change up has become a little weapon in the last two years. And that’s probably why you see those young hanging in his living room. Got two of them. Uh can I ask a question? You guys are really smart. I’m really dumb. Uh bases were loaded for Bryce Terang. Wild pitch went right at his legs and he jumped back. I’m dummy. Should he have just taken that off the leg? See, see this is like you guys played this. I’m see it’s the should he just have let it hit him. Yes, that is tough when you’re in that situation. Most guys can say and I’ve played with a guy that would definitely for sure let it hit him. Most guys are trying to not get hit. You’re not going up there looking to get hit. You see a ball come down there and your reaction is to do that, right? But they have the wherewithal knowing that Blake pulls his slider. You’re looking for something down and end and you can most mo you’re taught to turn into, you know, turn your back towards the ball. If he does that, it probably hits him. But you see, he took the stride like he normally was getting ready to hit it. Then he just kind of opened himself out and pulled his leg out the way and then he swings out the ball over his head, right? Which goes to tell me he was thinking about that. He bagged out like, man, if that hits me, that’s a tie ball game. And that’s still on your mind. And not that he didn’t get fully back into the at bat. You know that you got away with an opportunity right there. So, and look, it’s easy. It’s tough. I’m not facing a 95 mph slider at my kneecap. All you got to do is stand in the backyard and let someone throw the ball at you left go and see if you either stay there or if your natural reaction is to move out of the way. Well, he said he’s not the smartest guy, so he probably listen up. I uh It’s their natural reaction to protect themselves when they see the ball coming at them. And also, let’s not forget that as much as we want these kids to be perfect, he’s still young. Oh, sure. Remember, this is this is a relatively young player. Some of those players that that used to do that turn around with the intention of getting hit or they practice that. It’s not just once. It’s not just one game. They normally do that after repetitions. So, when the moment comes, they identify it. But this is a relatively young player that doesn’t realize that it probably could have tied up the game on a breaking ball hitting him on the knee. But their natural reaction is defend themselves from the ball. One more question about Roki Sasaki who was known as the monster of the Raywa era. He came in and he was really stamping that claim. He had a perfect three perfect innings in game four clincher against the Phillies. Five and a third innings, no walks. He gets shelled a little bit, gets shelled shocked a little bit. They have to bling in break Blake Trinan. Do you have any concerns going forward about Roki or do they instill confidence in the locker room and get him back out there engaged? No, no concern at all. Plus, the situation you come in with runners on, it’s a little different. If you come in with a clean inning, which is similar to what he used to do as a starter, that makes things a little bit easier. Now, every situation is not going to be a clean inning, but when you are in that situation, that can build the confidence back up. and give credit to Dave Roberts, the manager of the Dodgers. Again, flipping coming back and now whenever the opportunity comes up in any of these remaining games, you got to run him back out there. You got to get his confidence back up soon. In fact, Dave Roberts just spoke to the media about Sasaki and Shrinan. Let’s take a listen. You know, I don’t know. Um, he had three days off. um everything I heard he felt great and there were some near misses but uh you know you walk three guys and so he was just off a little bit but I thought stuff was still good but just missing and and I don’t know um you know if there was carryover from the from the three innings um just kind of betting on you know how he’s saying he feels and the coaches and training staff and you know with the three three days off I felt good with him and with Blake O You’ve seen a lot of good postseason pitching performances, but what do you think of where do you think Blake Stell’s outing ranks among those tonight? This was uh this was as as good as I can remember in the postseason against a very uh you know gritty team. Puts the ball in play. Um the change up was the pitch of the night. His command was great and um yeah, you’re not going to see too many performances like that certainly in the postseason. This was this was pretty special. Pedro, any final thoughts on Sasaki? Uh, I think he’s going to be fine. I think, uh, the fact that he had to wait three days, uh, you know, this is not a usual game for him. Uh, but but I think he’s going to be fine. I I wouldn’t worry at all about about Saki. He’s going to be okay. I I think he needed to feel the ball a little bit more. Uh, plus, this is probably the the, you know, the tightest game he ever played, right? and and uh I think he’s gonna be okay. And plus, relievers are thought to have a very short memory. So I he’s going to be right back out and he’s going to be just fine. Probably even better with the feel of the ball.

MLB on TBS crew Pedro Martinez, Curtis Granderson, Jimmy Rollins, and Adam Lefkoe react to the Los Angeles Dodgers win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the NLCS, Blake Snell’s dominant performance, and one of the most unusual double plays you will ever see in baseball.

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