Blake Snell sharp in return from IL, but offensive struggles continue – Dodgers Digest

After getting the series off to an ideal start yesterday with their first shutout win since April, it took all of one batter for that dream to die today, and things didn’t get much better from there. A bunch of dingers for the Rays thanks to a minor-league stadium, and one big missed chance for the Dodgers, led to a 4-0 shutout loss.

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Returning to the mound off the IL was Blake Snell, and he was greeted immediately in the 1st by a Yandy Diaz homer thanks to the Yankee Stadium/Steinbrenner Field short porch, making it 1-0 Rays early.

Strong start ? pic.twitter.com/reHyZDBsIM

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) August 2, 2025

After a dominant 2nd, he then gave up a single and another homer to Diaz to the same spot in the 3rd to make it 3-0.

So nice he did it twice ?‍? pic.twitter.com/a1JVAhalSE

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) August 2, 2025

Hate this minor-league park.

Other than those two bullshit homers, Snell allowed just three singles and looked quite dominant in his return start: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 8 K, 86 Pitches.

Promising return for Blake. pic.twitter.com/z0rDwjnCDK

— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 2, 2025

Big picture, this is the most important thing and what you want to see.

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The bigger problem was that Drew Rasmussen, an All-Star for the Rays, pitched like an ace. He faced the minimum through three, seeing a single erased by a double play, gave up just a two-out infield single in the 4th, and another two-out single in the 5th.

Kevin Cash was quick with the hook on Rasmussen in the 6th, as after a lead-off bunt single from Miguel Rojas and a deep flyball from Mookie Betts, he yanked him for Garrett Cleavinger with a pair of lefties to follow. That immediately looked like a bad move when Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman singled on back-to-back pitches to load the bases. However, after getting ahead 2-0 in the count, Teoscar Hernandez grounded into a rally-killing, game-killing double play to end the threat.

And that was basically their shot at the game.

He did hit their mascot at least.

“Down Goes Raymond” ? pic.twitter.com/7vEphDPUFJ

— James¹⁷¹⁸? (@ShotimeLAD) August 2, 2025

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Anyway, taking over for Snell was Jack Dreyer in the 6th, and he gave up a homer to Junior Caminero to make it 4-0. While an infield single and bunt single followed, he managed to navigate around that traffic at least.

No. 28 for 13 pic.twitter.com/26UcnBXxZA

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) August 2, 2025

Alexis Diaz entered for the 7th, surprising by continuing to find the zone with a pair of strikeouts in a clean frame. Anthony Banda continued pitching well, striking out a pair of his own in a clean 8th.

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None of this mattered much, as the Dodger bats went down quietly over the final three innings, not even getting a baserunner.

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The series concludes tomorrow at the somehow even earlier time of 6:10 AM HT/9:10 AM PT/12:10 PM ET, which I will try to be alive for … maybe. It’ll be Yoshinobu Yamamoto making the start and facing off against Joe Boyle.