By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Blake Snell will start Game 1 of the World Series on Friday and Yoshinobu Yamamoto will follow in Game 2 for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Toronto Blue Jays, manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday.
It’s a repeat of the pitching order the Dodgers used for the first two games of their four-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Championship Series.
Snell had 10 strikeouts over eight scoreless innings in Game 1 on Oct. 13. He became the first Dodgers pitcher to complete eight innings while allowing one hit or fewer in a postseason game.
Yamamoto pitched a three-hitter in Game 2 with the first Dodgers postseason complete game since 2004.
Roberts said the team hasn’t decided on starters for Games 3 and 4, which will be back at Dodger Stadium, but indicated Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani could follow in that order.
“I think we’re going to run the same rotation back, I think for sure for the first two,” he said.
Ohtani had 10 strikeouts and hit three home runs in Game 4 to clinch a second straight trip to the World Series. Ohtani was selected MVP of the series.
Dodgers starters combined for 35 strikeouts in the NLCS. Snell, Yamamoto, Glasnow and Ohtani posted a 0.63 ERA against the Brewers, with two earned runs in 28 2/3 innings.
Roberts said the bullpen lineup is still being discussed, with the Blue Jays’ lineup featuring some right-handed power hitters that the Dodgers didn’t have to contend with previously.
“There’s one spot that we could potentially kind of debate, and will continue to debate,” Roberts said. “Outside of that one spot, it’s probably going to look exactly the same.”
Reliever Tanner Scott is eligible for the World Series roster after being removed from the NL Division Series roster. He had an emergency surgical procedure and said he is feeling good now.
“It’s just kind of trying to get a grasp on the doctors giving him the full kind of green light, the go-ahead,” Roberts said. “I know that he’s anxious, which is a good thing, but fortunately, we get to see for a couple more days how he responds to throwing and bullpens and things like that.”
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