Snell said he felt he had a good game plan: being more aggressive in the strike zone with his breaking pitches to make the Dodgers swing and miss. But he was not enamored of his own performance, finding fault in his four walks, and said he could not blame Cash for removing him from the game when he did.
“He’s trying to win a World Series game,” Snell said, “and I’m out here, I walked two guys in the last three at-bats. I’ve got to do a better job.”
After Anderson ended the fifth by striking out Justin Turner, the Rays extended their lead to 6-2 in the top of the sixth when they scored a run on a sacrifice fly by Joey Wendle — who also hit a two-run double in the fourth. But Will Smith homered for the Dodgers off Anderson, a hard-throwing right-hander, to draw to 6-3.
Seager, the winner of the Most Valuable Player Award for the National League Championship Series, homered off Fairbanks in the eighth to make the score 6-4. Turner followed with a bloop double and that brought Max Muncy, the potential tying run, to the plate.
Fairbanks induced a fly ball by Muncy, but the next batter was Smith, and he lined a shot directly at Wendle at third base, the ball stretching the webbing of Wendle’s glove right in front of his face before he secured it for the second out.
Still, the hard liner by Muncy indicated that the Dodgers were now zeroed in on Fairbanks, so Cash replaced him with Loup, who struck out Cody Bellinger to end the eighth.
Loup notched the first two outs in the ninth. and then Castillo struck out Taylor to end the game, knot the series, and give the Rays new hope that it will be more competitive than it initially looked.
“That game was more indicative of the type of team we have,” Wendle said.