Snell Spins A Masterpiece, Tucker Finds His Power As Dodgers Hold Off Nationals

With two men on, Teoscar Hernández stepped to the plate and sent a 3-2 pitch screaming into the left-center-field gap. Both runners scored, capped by a head-first slide into home from Mookie Betts.

No, this is not a reminder of the walk-off win the night before.

This happened in the third inning of Friday night’s game against the Washington Nationals, and perhaps that was the point. The Dodgers, who had spent much of the previous stretch making life unnecessarily difficult for themselves, came out looking like a team that had remembered how this was supposed to work.

They jumped ahead early, kept adding to the lead and, for six innings, handed the game over to Blake Snell and told him to do what he does.

Snell did considerably more than that.

Dodgers broadcaster Orel Hershiser, watching from the booth, described Snell as a “pitching savant.” Considering the source, those are words to live by.

Snell tossed six scoreless innings, allowing five hits while striking out seven. More importantly, he repeatedly found himself in situations where one bad pitch could have changed the complexion of the game and somehow found a way through them.

Washington put two runners on to begin the sixth, putting the first real dent in what had been a dominant evening. Snell responded by retiring the next three hitters, ending the threat and ending his night with the Dodgers still comfortably in front.

“Right now I'm around the zone, but just missing,” Snell said afterward. “I can be even better.”

That last part is the slightly frightening portion of the quote.

Because six scoreless innings, five hits and seven strikeouts apparently qualifies as a night on which Blake Snell believes he can be better.

The Dodgers will take that problem.

They also took advantage of a little something else they had been waiting for.

Dropped to eighth in the batting order, Kyle Tucker may have received a bit of a wake-up call. If so, he answered it by launching a home run into the right-field seats in the sixth inning, pushing the Dodgers' lead to 5-0.

It was Tucker’s 12th homer of the season and his first since Aug. 8. More significantly, it was his first home run at Dodger Stadium since mid-June.

Apparently, eighth place in the lineup comes with an alarm clock.

“Everyone's been working really hard trying to get these wins,” Tucker said.

The Dodgers had already built a 3-0 lead in the third when Betts singled home the first run and Hernández followed with the two-run double. Alex Call then helped manufacture the fourth run when he doubled, reached third and scored when Nationals shortstop Nasim Nuñez dropped Tommy Edman’s ball at short.

Not exactly a textbook offensive sequence, but after the way things had been going, the Dodgers were not about to complain about a little assistance from the opposition.

For five-plus innings, the game belonged entirely to Los Angeles.

Then, because apparently no Dodgers victory is allowed to arrive without at least a little turbulence, the bullpen decided to make things interesting.

Seth Halvorsen opened the ninth by allowing three consecutive hits. Brady House doubled and scored on a single by pinch-hitter Abimelec Ortiz. Ortiz eventually scored on Jorbit Vivas’ groundout, and James Wood followed with an RBI double that brought Washington within 5-3.

Suddenly, the comfortable cushion had become something considerably less comfortable.

Jack Dreyer came on and inherited a game that had gone from cruise control to emergency landing in a matter of minutes. He got the final out, securing his sixth career save and second of the season.

“Obviously it got a little hairy at the end, but we’ll bank the win,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

And that's exactly what the Dodgers did.

They banked one.

There was no dramatic comeback required, no ninth-inning miracle, no last-second rescue. Just a strong start from Snell, a timely double from Hernández, a long-awaited blast from Tucker and enough offense to keep Washington at arm's length until the bullpen briefly forgot the assignment.

It wasn't perfect.

It didn't need to be.

After the way the Dodgers have played at times recently, a night in which they took control early, watched their starting pitcher dominate and actually finished the job qualifies as something close to a luxury.

Maybe that is what progress looks like.

Or maybe it's just what a normal Dodgers game used to look like.

Either way, they'll take it.

Up next: Tyler Glasnow (4-0, 2.79 ERA) takes the mound Saturday against Washington right-hander Cade Cavalli (12-5, 3.12).