After the Los Angeles Dodgers lost back-to-back games to the Philadelphia Phillies, it was up to Blake Snell to salvage the series. Snell accepted the challenge, spinning a masterful game on Wednesday. Until he ran into trouble in the seventh inning.

The 10th-year veteran recorded two outs in the seventh before consecutive walks brought the tying run to the plate in a 3-0 game. Snell had already surpassed his previous season-high of 104 pitches. And Dave Roberts headed out to the mound to pull him from the game.

But Snell changed Roberts’ mind. The Dodgers manager headed back to the dugout, leaving the two-time Cy Young winner to work out of the jam. And Snell rewarded Robert’s faith by getting out of the inning with his 12th strikeout of the night.

Following the Dodgers’ 5-0 win, Roberts revealed the simple but effective message that convinced the manager not to pull Snell. “Please. Keep me in, I got it,” Roberts relayed, per the Los Angeles Times’ Jack Harris.

Blake Snell lifts Dodgers to 5-0 win over Phillies

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Blake Snell (7) stays in the game as manager Dave Roberts (30), catcher Ben Rortvedt (47), second baseman Miguel Rojas (72) return to their positions for the third out of the seventh inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Snell hadn’t allowed a base runner since the third inning. He had retired 12 straight batters and quickly recorded the first two outs in the seventh. But with the Phillies suddenly a swing away from tying the game, Roberts’ instinct was to go to a reliever.

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Alex Vesia had already left the bullpen and was jogging toward the infield. As Roberts approached the mound, Snell gave a defiant shake of his head, making it clear the Dodgers’ veteran felt the move was premature.

Yet despite setting all this in motion, Roberts says he was strangely noncommittal about removing Snell from the game. “I was actually 50/50. Obviously, 99.9 percent of the time, I’ve got my decision made. But in that moment, I was kind of up in the air,” Roberts later confessed, via Harris.

Given the recent performance of the Dodgers bullpen, Roberts’ hesitancy is understandable. And he clearly made the right call. Snell stayed in to face Phillies’ rookie Otto Kemp. He ended the seventh-inning threat with his season-high 12th strikeout on his season-high 112th pitch of the game.

Vesia and Tanner Scott finished out the final two innings as the Dodgers beat the Phillies 5-0. Snell made history with a second-straight brilliant start. He’s the first pitcher in 120 years to strike out 11+ batters and allow two or fewer hits, two or fewer walks, no runs and no extra-base hits in back-to-back starts. Cy Young is the only other pitcher to accomplish the feat.