Blake Snell completed the prescribed four innings in his third minor league rehab start on Sunday, and struck out four for Triple-A Oklahoma City against the Round Rock Express, a Texas Rangers affiliate.
Snell threw 55 pitches in those four innings, right around the expectation for his first start with Oklahoma City. Nineteen of those pitches came in the first inning, when he allowed a leadoff single, then a two-run home run on a changeup for an early deficit. But he retired his next nine batters and allowed only a walk the rest of the way.
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The veteran left-hander finished off three of his four strikeouts with his curveball, and another with his four-seam fastball, which averaged 96.1 mph on Sunday. Snell induced seven swinging strikes against Round Rock, three on his fastball and two on the curve.
After the home run, Snell allowed only one hard-hit ball, but that was a 96.7-mph groundout in the third inning.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts on Friday in St. Louis, after watching Snell throw a bullpen session at Busch Stadium, told reporters that Snell would need at least one more rehab start after Sunday before getting activated off the injured list.
Snell in his first rehab start for Class-A Ontario pitched into the second inning but didn’t record any outs in the frame on April 22 in San Jose. He threw 32 pitches and allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits and a walk. The left-hander was much sharper on Tuesday in Ontario, with six strikeouts in three scoreless innings, allowing only one hit to his 10 batters faced, and induced 11 swinging strikes.
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