Dodgers' Clinching Night Goes Sideways After Snell's Early Exit

There was a certain inevitability building around Great American Ball Park on Wednesday night. The Dodgers had arrived one win away from clinching their fifth consecutive National League West title, Blake Snell was back on the mound in the same ballpark where he had thrown a no-hitter in his previous appearance there, and Los Angeles had every reason to believe the celebration might finally be coming.

Then Snell pulled up.

Just one inning. Nineteen pitches. One hit, one strikeout, and then a barking left groin abruptly changed the entire complexion of the evening. The Dodgers' ace wasn't going to get through the game, and more importantly, he wasn't going to risk turning something that had just announced itself into something considerably worse.

“I was gonna try to get through five,” Snell said, “but I just knew I didn't have a good shot of doing that and remaining healthy.”

That was enough. The Dodgers shut him down, and what had been shaping up as a clinching opportunity immediately became an improvised bullpen game. Blake Treinen was summoned for the second inning, followed by five more relievers, and suddenly the Dodgers were asking their bullpen to cover the territory their starting pitcher was supposed to occupy.

For a while, it worked.

Treinen kept Cincinnati off the board, and the Dodgers gave him a lead in the third when Mookie Betts singled, stole his way into scoring position and came around on Will Smith's double. It was 1-0 Los Angeles, and for a moment the evening still looked salvageable.

Then Elly De La Cruz did what Elly De La Cruz has done to the Dodgers far too often this season.

His two-run homer off Seth Halvorsen in the bottom of the third put Cincinnati ahead 2-1, his 28th home run of the season and his fifth against Los Angeles. Nobody else has taken the Dodgers deep that many times this year.

The Reds added to the damage against Bobby Miller in the fifth when Dane Myers launched his seventh homer of the season, and Juan Brito's RBI single in the sixth made it 4-2. Cincinnati then put the game away in the seventh, loading the bases and getting a two-run single from TJ Friedl.

Tommy Edman did his part to prevent the inning from becoming even worse, throwing out Sal Stewart at the plate to end it, but by then the Dodgers were chasing a game that had gotten away from them.

And the offense didn't exactly come charging to the rescue.

Los Angeles stranded 12 runners and went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position, an especially painful combination on a night when every opportunity mattered. The Dodgers managed only two runs despite repeatedly putting themselves in position to change the game, and Cincinnati's six-run response to Snell's early departure was more than enough.

The loss leaves the Dodgers at 92-60 and still one victory away from the division title. They had needed either a win or a San Diego loss to clinch Wednesday night.

San Diego apparently had other plans.

The Padres beat Colorado 9-3 later in the evening, meaning the Dodgers will have to wait at least one more day before they can break out the goggles, champagne and whatever other protective equipment becomes necessary when 92 wins finally become a division championship.

For now, the biggest concern isn't the magic number.

It's Snell.

Manager Dave Roberts sounded relieved that the Dodgers caught the issue early, while making it clear that nobody knows yet exactly what the next several days will look like.

“I don’t think anyone can say what is going to happen in the next week to 10 days,” Roberts said. “I am glad it’s not worse, and we caught it early.”

That is probably the only appropriate place to leave it tonight. Snell wasn't willing to gamble with his health in September, and the Dodgers certainly weren't going to encourage him to do so. There is a much larger calendar sitting on the other side of this final stretch of the regular season.

Treinen, meanwhile, wasn't interested in dwelling on the fact that the Dodgers missed another opportunity to close out the division.

“I don't think the magic number is on our minds,” he said. “Right now, we're focused on being the best version of ourselves.”

That's the correct sentiment, although it probably doesn't make the scoreboard any less irritating.

The Dodgers will get another opportunity Thursday. The division remains theirs to claim, the postseason berth is already secured, and the loss doesn't change the larger picture.

It does, however, leave them with a much more important question than when the champagne gets opened:

How is Blake Snell's groin feeling tomorrow?

Because nobody in Los Angeles is going to complain about waiting another day to celebrate if it means the Dodgers caught this one early enough to make sure their ace is healthy when the games actually matter.