CINCINNATI –– For all their other problems lately, the Dodgers could at least cling to the fact that the heart of their starting rotation was healthy.
On Wednesday night, that threatened to suddenly change.
After just one inning and 19 pitches at Great American Ball Park against the Cincinnati Reds, left-hander Blake Snell left his start early with left groin tightness, according to the team, forced to exit with an injury that has plagued him previously in his career.
Snell said he felt his groin “grab” on the second-to-last pitch of his pregame bullpen session, and that it continued to bother him through a scoreless first in which his velocity was noticeably down.
Thus, when he returned to the dugout, he alerted the Dodgers coaching and medical staff of the issue. From there, they made what one source with knowledge of the situation described as a “precautionary” decision to remove Snell from the game.
“I was gonna try to get through five [innings],” Snell said. “But I just knew I didn’t really have a good shot at doing that and remaining healthy.”
In the immediate aftermath of the game, Snell struck a hopeful tone that –– by not attempting to pitch through the injury further –– he had avoided anything serious.
He said he and the team will monitor how he feels in the coming days, but was optimistic that he “should be good” moving forward, perhaps to even make one more start before the end of the regular season.
“[Coming out of the game] was definitely the right move,” Snell said. “Next couple days, we’ll see where we’re at and go from there. But I think I’ll be good to go.”
Still, any concern with Snell represents a troublesome development for the Dodgers, who have been resting their World Series three-peat hopes, first and foremost, on the strength of a starting rotation led by him, Tarik Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow.
And while manager Dave Roberts echoed that the team will take a wait-and-see approach with the two-time Cy Young Award winner, he also emphasized that they will be extremely cautious with his health so as not to risk his injury getting worse before October.
“I don’t think anyone can sit here right now and say what’s going to happen in the next week to 10 days,” Roberts said. “So I think it’s first, let’s see how he comes in [tomorrow]. But yeah, I mean, I guess it’s under the ‘I’m glad it’s not worse,’ and we caught it early.”
Roberts added that the Dodgers would decide whether Snell needs medical imaging on the issue once they get back to Los Angeles for the start of their final homestand of the season Friday.
When asked about the possibility of Snell starting again before the beginning of the playoffs, Roberts was noncommittal.
“We’ve got to make sure that whatever start he’s going to make, he’s going to be able to make it and come out of it healthy,” Roberts said. “I like where his head is at, but he just can’t afford any more setbacks.”
Lately, Snell had been perhaps the stoutest pitcher on the Dodgers staff, allowing just four runs over six starts since returning from a surgical procedure in May to remove loose bodies from his elbow.
However, injuries have been a recurring problem for him since he joined the Dodgers on a five-year, $182 million contract two offseasons ago.
He missed much of last year with a shoulder problem, though was healthy enough in the playoffs to make six outings with a 3.18 ERA en route to the club’s World Series title.
Ongoing shoulder issues sidelined him again at the start of this year, before his elbow injury popped up after his first start back in early May.
Snell has also had left groin injuries before. He missed more than a month in 2024 when he strained his groin while playing for the San Francisco Giants, and in 2022 when he suffered a similar adductor strain with the San Diego Padres. An adductor/groin strain cost him the final three weeks of the regular season in San Diego in 2021, as well.
“I use my legs a lot, just pretty explosive in my legs,” Snell said of why his groin has been a repeated issue. “And just over time, I [have had to] find ways to maintain, keep it stronger, healthy.”
If Snell were to face another extended timeline to return again now, it could put his availability for the start of the playoffs in jeopardy.
If that were to be the case, the Dodgers would have to scramble to replace him, with Roki Sasaki (who pitched four innings of live batting practice on Wednesday afternoon in what the Dodgers hope is the final step of his recovery from a blister) representing the most logical rotation alternative.
For now, however, there was at least initial hope that this episode might be more minor for the 33-year-old.
The fate of the Dodgers’ October chances could depend on it.
“We’ve got to make sure that he comes out ready to go in the postseason,” Roberts said. “So that’s kind of where my head is at personally.”
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