In a postseason that has already featured multiple stellar pitching performances thus far, fans were treated to an old-fashioned pitchers’ duel for the first six innings in Game 2 of the NLDS in Philadelphia on Monday night.
Blake Snell went six scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. Jesús Luzardo entered the seventh with that same line, ultimately allowing two hits to lead off the inning that both came around to score.
Two standout outings. A tense 4-3 victory by the Dodgers. Here are six stats and facts from Game 2.
As noted above, through six innings, the starters were almost unhittable. It felt special, and it was. Snell and Luzardo became the second pair of starters to each allow one hit or fewer through the first six innings of the same postseason game. They joined Woody Williams and Brandon Backe in Game 5 of the 2004 NLCS. That’s the only postseason game where both starters finished with at least six innings and one or no hits allowed
Entering the seventh inning, Luzardo had retired 17 consecutive batters. That’s the second-longest streak in a postseason game in Phillies history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Roy Halladay retired 21 straight in Game 1 of the 2011 NLDS — the year after his no-hitter in his postseason debut to begin the 2010 NLDS. Because baseball is incredible, this performance by Luzardo came on the anniversary of that latter feat, with the late Halladay’s sons throwing out the first pitch to Carlos Ruiz.
Snell became the second Dodgers pitcher with a scoreless postseason start of at least six innings allowing one or no hits. He joined Walker Buehler Game 1 of the 2019 NLDS. The only pitcher other than Snell with such a start, MLB-wide, in the last three postseasons is Zack Wheeler, in Game 1 of the 2024 NLDS.
Snell now has four career postseason outings with at least nine strikeouts and two or fewer hits allowed. That’s the most by any pitcher in postseason history. Snell broke a tie at three with Max Scherzer.
Snell racked up 23 swings and misses, the same total Shohei Ohtani had in Game 1. Those two are tied for the second-most by a Dodgers pitcher in a postseason game under pitch tracking (2008). They trail Clayton Kershaw’s 24 in Game 2 of the 2020 Wild Card Series. So close.