All around the ballpark, the usually jovial left-hander wore a stoic expression.
asserted
hander → wear → expression
He walked to and from outfield catch play every day with a look of determination on his face.
asserted
He → walk → face
His Dodgers teammates noticed it.
asserted
teammates → notice → it
So did his manager.
asserted
manager → do → ?
“Much more quiet, much more kind of staying to himself,” Dave Roberts said of his star left-hander.
asserted
Roberts → stay → hander
“I think he’s been really anxious to get another opportunity …
asserted
he → think → opportunity
When you guys see him take the mound today, you’re going to see another level of intensity.”
asserted
you → see → intensity
For six innings, that was true, with Snell overcoming a leadoff home run on the first pitch of the night to Jackson Choruio by retiring 18 of his next 20 and 14 in a row at one point.
asserted
Snell → overcome → point
It gave the Dodgers’ slumping offense time to finally break through, when Will Smith hit a go-ahead two-run double with the bases loaded in the sixth.
asserted
bases → give → sixth
But then, in a sequence that will reverberate long into the winter, Snell returned for the seventh and suffered an historic postseason meltdown.
asserted
Snell → reverberate → meltdown
He walked leadoff batter Andrew Vaughn.
asserted
He → walk → Vaughn
He then got Jake Bauers in a two-strike count but repeatedly failed to put him away.
asserted
He → get → him
Five times, Bauers fouled off a two-strike offering.
asserted
Bauers → foul → offering
Just as he did to Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2, he extended an at-bat into double-digit pitches.
asserted
he → extend → pitches
Finally, on pitch No. 11, Snell made a mistake, leaving a fastball down the middle.
asserted
Snell → make → middle
Bauers was all over it, clobbering a no-doubt two-run homer halfway up the right-field pavilion.
asserted
Bauers → clobber → pavilion
If that wasn’t bad enough, Garrett Mitchell doubled the pain two pitches later, going back-to-back on another long ball to right.
asserted
Mitchell → double → right
That ended Snell’s night, and marked only the fifth time in his career he had allowed three home runs in a game.
asserted
he → end → game
Even more shockingly: He hadn’t given up a big fly in any of his 10 previous outings this season.
asserted
He → give → outings
A stunning conclusion to what had been shaping up to be a dominant start –– and perhaps the death blow to the Dodgers’ World Series three-peat ambitions this year.
asserted
what → shape → ambitions
For as shocking as Snell’s seventh-inning sequence was, what happened at the end of the sixth for the Dodgers might have been just as costly.
uncertain
happened → happen → Dodgers
After doing next to nothing against the Brewers’ bullpen in the first two games of this series, the Dodgers had finally broken through against Abner Uribe, loading the bases on three walks –– in a sign of potential fatigue from the hard-throwing right-hander, who has pitched every game of this postseason for Milwaukee –– before Smith came up and snapped his 1-for-25 playoff drought with a two-run double off the wall in left.
asserted
Smith → do → left
However, Shohei Ohtani seemed to get a bad read on that drive, failing to score from first in what would prove to be a consequential mistake.
asserted
what → seem → first
Then, the Brewers turned to Hall, tasking the second-best lefty in their bullpen to get through the rest of the inning unscathed.
asserted
Brewers → turn → inning
On just 10 pitches, he did, recording back-to-back strikeouts of Kiké Hernández and Tommy Edman to retire the side and keep the Brewers’ deficit at just one run.
asserted
he → do → run
A half-inning later, Hall’s escape would prove paramount.
asserted
escape → prove → ?
He wasn’t done either, collecting five more outs in seventh and eighth to earn a pivotal winning decision.
asserted
He → do → decision
Unsung hero: Shohei Ohtani
His base-running mistake aside, Ohtani validated the Dodgers’ decision to keep him in their lineup after speculation he could be benched following Game 2.
uncertain
he → validate → Game
After being dropped to the No. 6 spot in the batting order, he went 1-for-2 with his sixth-inning walk and a hit-by-pitch in the fourth.
asserted
he → drop → fourth
He also laced a 113.5 mph single in the eighth, and even looked better on the one out he recorded back in his first at-bat, when he lined out sharply to left.
asserted
he → lace → left
It was a step in the right direction for the injury-hampered slugger, who entered Wednesday batting just 3-for-20 in the playoffs.
asserted
who → hamper → playoffs
But if the Dodgers are to save their season –– now facing a 3-0 deficit that only one team in MLB history has ever overcome in a seven-game series –– they will almost certainly need more from the four-time MVP, who still doesn’t have an extra-base hit or RBI this October.
asserted
who → save → hit
Stat of the game: Eight
That’s how many runners the Dodgers left stranded on base Wednesday, continuing a playoff-long trend of missed chances and wasted opportunities.
asserted
Dodgers → ’ → chances
Even with Smith’s double, they finished 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position, falling to 3-for-32 in such situations this postseason.
asserted
they → finish → situations
The Aporia
