Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell will come face to face with some old friends when he takes the mound at home Saturday night against the San Diego Padres.
The Dodgers earned a 3-2 victory in the series opener Friday to end a four-game losing streak and create a first-place tie in the National League West. Los Angeles has a 6-2 advantage in the season series.
The Dodgers won without third baseman Max Muncy, who went back on the injured list with an oblique strain.
Snell will face his former club for the first time since he won the NL Cy Young Award with the Padres in 2023. Since departing, he has gone through a pair of injury-plagued seasons, first with the San Francisco Giants and now with the Dodgers.
Snell (2-1, 2.37 ERA) made two early-season starts for Los Angeles, went on the injured list with shoulder inflammation and has made two starts since returning. He earned the victory against the Toronto Blue Jays last Saturday when he went five scoreless innings with a season-high 10 strikeouts. The Dodgers won 9-1.
Snell has 18 strikeouts in his two most recent starts as he looks to match the high level he showed last season with the Giants after he returned from adductor and groin injuries in July.
Dodgers outfielder Michael Conforto played with Snell in San Francisco last season — when Snell finished 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA — and can see a similar scenario unfolding.
“When Blake’s on, he’s really, really tough to hit. As tough as anybody,” Conforto said, according to The Orange County Register. “It’s pretty close to what we were seeing last year when he was really, really dominant. A lot of swing-and-miss stuff.”
Snell has faced the Padres once, in 2016 as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays. He gave up one run over five innings while earning the win.
He was able to watch another left-hander dominate Friday as Clayton Kershaw gave up one run over six innings as the Dodgers earned a much-needed victory amid an 11-14 record in the season’s second half.
Even with the loss on Friday, the Padres are 14-4 since July 26. They recovered from a nine-game deficit to the Dodgers on July 3 to move into sole possession of the division lead Wednesday.
On Saturday, San Diego is set to send right-hander Dylan Cease (5-10, 4.52 ERA) to the mound.
Cease is 2-2 with a 3.31 ERA in six career starts against the Dodgers, including back-to-back outings in June when he went seven scoreless innings in the first start and then was rocked for six runs in five frames in the second. He combined for 20 strikeouts in the two outings.
San Diego had averaged 5.8 runs over its previous eight games before scoring just twice on Friday.
The Padres’ loss to the Dodgers in the series opener came at the start of a decisive stretch that includes six games between the teams in 10 days.
“Because it’s head-to-head, it has more significance,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “The reality is that we got here by putting emphasis on every day being the most important day of the season, and that’s not going to change from my seat.”
Ramon Laureano hit a home run for San Diego on Friday, his third in 13 games since arriving from the Baltimore Orioles at the trade deadline last month. Laureano has 11 RBIs with his new club.