LOS ANGELES -- In the three months that elapsed between Blake Snell's season debut and Tuesday night -- a period in which he worked his way back from surgery to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow -- one of the toughest trials for the left-hander came one week before his return to the Dodger Stadium mound: his final rehab start in Salt Lake City.
"If I played in Salt Lake growing up," Snell said, "I don’t know if I’d be here today. It’s tough to throw a baseball there.”
From his inauspicious season debut to his final outing in the Minors, Snell spent months preparing to be back on the mound in L.A. That day came on Tuesday, when he racked up 10 strikeouts across six innings of one-run ball on three hits and a walk against the Royals in his return from his second stint on the injured list this season.
While Snell exited with the score tied and received a no-decision, the Dodgers ensured that his return would be a victorious one when Max Muncy walked off the Royals, 5-4, in 10 innings.
The sharp outing was night and day from Snell's first start of the season on May 9, when he gave up five runs (four earned) in three innings.
"I think that coming back from rehab and to kind of feel your way into the middle of a season is very difficult. And to manufacture where guys are at emotionally and physically is hard to do," manager Dave Roberts said. "I do think that he learned from the first one. We needed to win tonight, and we needed to win a series, and it started with him."
From the time that Kendrick Lamar's "tv off" began to blare over the Dodger Stadium speakers, Snell looked locked in. He struck out the side on three different pitches -- a changeup to Nick Loftin, a four-seamer to Bobby Witt Jr. and a curveball to Jac Caglianone -- in the first inning. Snell went on to retire his first 10 batters in order, striking out seven of them.
Snell faced some trouble in the fourth inning, allowing a run on back-to-back singles followed by a Salvador Perez sacrifice fly. But that was the extent of the damage the Royals could manage against him.
The rough plan for Snell had been to reach five innings or 75-80 pitches, but he exceeded both counts, throwing 84 pitches to complete his six strong innings. He authored the seventh start with double-digit strikeouts by a Dodger this year.
"That’s the Snell that we’re used to seeing," Muncy said.
Injuries have limited Snell to only two starts this season. He began the year on the 15-day IL with lingering fatigue in his left shoulder, after inflammation there had cost him a large chunk of the 2025 campaign and continued to bother him through the World Series. Snell rejoined the Dodgers' rotation in May, only to land back on the IL when loose bodies were discovered in his pitching elbow.
Snell had the NanoNeedle Scope procedure to remove the loose bodies, which expedited his recovery timeline but still kept him out of Major League action until August.
While Snell came back from his shoulder fatigue one week earlier than expected, the Dodgers opted to have him build up fully on his rehab assignment this time around. That meant pitching in Salt Lake City, where Snell gave up three runs on four walks and five hits, including a pair of homers, in 3 2/3 innings.
While the altitude in Salt Lake City messed with his pitch shapes and made Snell's final rehab start difficult, he felt that the experience of pitching there helped him come back strong on Tuesday.
"To have that start and be that frustrated pitching," Snell said, "knowing that I can’t throw anything that I want with any shape, to be able to come here and just pitch and know I can throw a curveball where I want, whenever I want, and a fastball -- that felt way better."
Since having the surgery, Snell has said that his arm feels as good as it has in years. He was already great for the Dodgers in his first season in L.A., posting a 2.35 ERA in 11 starts. Given the way he's feeling physically, perhaps he can be even better going forward.
"Keeping the pace, keeping the velo where I need it to be, feeling strong, those things matter a lot to me," Snell said. "To be able to do that for six innings and feel like I had more left, I’m excited about that.”