If the Tokyo Series exhibition games have taught as anything, it’s that the Hanshin Tigers have formidable pitching. They shut out the Dodgers 3-0 on Sunday afternoon in Japan (Saturday night in the U.S.), and did not allow a run in 18 innings this weekend against two major league teams.
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The Tigers shut out the Cubs 3-0 on Saturday afternoon in Tokyo (Friday night in the U.S.), behind 20-year-old left-hander Keito Mombetsu tossing five perfect innings. His teammate Hiroto Saiki was about as good against the Dodgers.
Saiki, who led Hanshin in innings (167⅓), strikeouts (137), and wins (13) while posting a 1.83 ERA last season for Hanshin. Against the Dodgers, the right-hander held the Dodgers hitless through four innings, his only blemish to that point a Will Smith walk in the second inning.
Max Muncy got the Dodgers in the hit column with a single to open the fifth, but was erased by a nifty double play started by second baseman Takumu Nakano.
Saiki struck out seven in his five scoreless frames, and induced 16 swinging strikes.
Snell was cruising just as well, retiring his first nine batters faced. Then the first four batters reached base in the fourth. Three of them scored, all on a Teruaki Sato home run. In all, Snell needed 37 pitches in the fourth inning alone, matching his total for the first three frames.
Snell’s laboring on the mound coincided with Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman joining the SportsNet LA booth. The longer half-inning provided more time for the interview, which touched on the Dodgers’ offseason, their experience so far in Japan, and more.
Friedman also had high praise for Snell, even as Stephen Nelson and Eric Karros were teasing the front office executive that he was bad luck during the inning. “Like I said, Blake has a lot to work on,” Friedman joked at one point.
The point of the outing for Snell, aside from making the trip to Tokyo, was to continue to build up to prepare for the domestic regular season. So even after the long fourth, Snell went back out to start the fifth inning, adding an “up-down” to his day.
Snell retired his only batter faced, and finished with seven strikeouts.
Tyler Glasnow got his work in as well, starting a clean inning in the sixth, and finished out the game. That included pitching the bottom of the ninth even though Hanshin was leading at the time, a pre-arranged setup.
Glasnow got his four innings in, scoreless on two hits and three walks, with seven strikeouts.
Notes
Andy Pages had the second Dodgers hit, a sixth-inning single. That he started both exhibition games in center field and played all nine innings of each game is a fairly clear indicator that he’ll be on the opening day roster come Tuesday.
Austin Barnes caught the final four innings behind the plate, and singled in the eighth inning for the Dodgers’ third and final hit of the game. Barnes was 2-for-2 in the two exhibition games.
Matt Sauer, the non-roster invitee who got told he was making this trip on the mound during a pitching change in Peoria on March 7, replaced Snell and got the final two outs of the fifth.
Up next
The Dodgers have a workout day Monday at the Tokyo Dome before beginning the regular season against the Cubs on opening day Tuesday (3:10 a.m. PT; SportsNet LA, Fox). Yoshinobu Yamamoto starts for the Dodgers, while left-hander Shota Imanaga is on the mound for Chicago.
