Tampa Bay Rays' Blake Snell pulled in sixth inning; Kevin Cash's decision backfires
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash's decision to pull starter Blake Snell in the sixth inning of Game 6 of the World Series on Tuesday night is one he's likely to regret for a long time.
With the Rays leading 1-0, Snell was throwing arguably his best game of the season. He had struck out nine Los Angeles Dodgers hitters in 5⅓ innings while giving up just two hits.
To the dismay of many, Snell's second hit allowed -- to No. 9 hitter Austin Barnes with one out in the sixth -- brought Cash to the mound. Cash opted for reliever Nick Anderson, who promptly gave up a double, a game-tying wild pitch and an RBI groundout, putting the Rays behind in the game for the first time 2-1.
The Dodgers went on to win 3-1 to wrap up the seventh World Series title in franchise history.
Cash said the decision to pull Snell was made because leadoff hitter Mookie Betts was coming up again, and he wanted to avoid having Snell go through the lineup a third time.
"The only motive was that the lineup the Dodgers feature is as potent as any in the league," Cash said afterward. "Personally, I felt Blake had done his job and then some. Mookie coming around the third time through ... I value that.
"I totally respect and understand the questions that come with it. Blake gave us every opportunity to win. He was outstanding. They're not easy decisions. ... Didn't want Mookie or [ Corey] Seager seeing Blake a third time. There was no set plan. As much as people think, there's no set plan."
Snell has gone a major-league-longest 21 straight starts without completing six innings, including in every outing this season.
He is just the second starting pitcher in the past 20 postseasons to be pulled from a game in which he had at least nine strikeouts before reaching 75 pitches. CC Sabathia was pulled from Game 5 of the 2017 American League Division Series at 69 pitches in the fifth inning, but unlike Snell, Sabathia had just allowed consecutive run-scoring hits.
Cash forecast the early hook on Monday's off day.
"We're going to get aggressive tomorrow," Cash said on a Zoom call with reporters. "If we can get a lead and limit them, we have some of the big guys in the back end of the bullpen that are ready to go. That's kind of our M.O. Just continuing to give different looks, consistently being inconsistent with the looks that we're giving opposing lineups and, more than anything with this Dodgers lineup, just not allowing them to see repeated at-bats."
That was said 24 hours before Snell took the mound and before he struck out Betts, Seager and Justin Turner two times each. Those three hitters were due up when Snell was pulled.
"You do it a little differently in the postseason," Cash continued Monday. "You're a little more aggressive. I give our starters a ton of credit. They're really good. That's a little bit of our strategy. To get a lead, get aggressive and limit whatever offense is out there."
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