Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 5th Chris Taylor, he of the game’s sole Dodgers hit, is up net. He looks at a ball, that’s good, and then a strike, which is less good. 1-1. He takes another, and it’s 2-1. A hitter’s count, which is at least a moral victory considering how Snell’s pitching. Taylor swings at the next offering, comes up with air. 2-2. The next pitch, that’s a ball low. A full count! And he hits a chopper right back to Snell. That’s five scoreless innings and counting. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 5th Cody Bellinger is up next. He takes a ball and then pops one up foul in the stands. 1-1. He fouls another off. 1-2. He grounds one fair but right to first. Two down. Snell is making this look easy. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 5th Will Smith bunts a Snell offering foul. Well, you gotta try something here. 0-1. He takes a pitch and then flies out for the first out of the inning. In these extraordinary times, the Guardian’s editorial independence has never been more important. Because no one sets our agenda, or edits our editor, we can keep delivering quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism each and every day. Free from commercial or political bias, we can report fearlessly on world events and challenge those in power. Your support protects the Guardian’s independence. We believe every one of us deserves equal access to accurate news and calm explanation. No matter how unpredictable the future feels, we will remain with you, delivering high quality news so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and security – based on fact, not fiction. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, top 5th Victor Gonzalez, however, gets his man, as Meadows immediately grounds out to end the inning. We’re halfway through Game Six, assuming that it doesn’t go extra innings It’s unfair to say Dave Roberts has been second-guessed this series because, honestly, he’s mostly being first-guessed. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, top 5th Randy “Raising” Arozarena, who has been the entirety of the offense here so far, gets ahead of Baez 2-1. He takes a called strike that doesn’t really look like a strike to him (or me). 2-2. Arozarena hits a high pitch for a single. That will do it for Baez, it looks like. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, top 5th Pedro Baez is in the game here now, a bit of a roll of the dice for Dave Roberts. Baez gets Zunino to strike out, so that’s about as good of a start as one could imagine. Choi pops out for the second out of the season, hope you weren’t prepared for a slugfest today. Okay,it looks like Snell has been good this series, but what are the experts saying? Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 4th Let’s see if Max Muncy can get anything going off of Snell. He lays off the first two pitches, a wise move, and then swings and the next two. It’s 2-2 like that. Snell throws a breaking ball at the dirt, one of the few poor pitches of the last few innings, but it doesn’t matter and Muncy joins his teammates in the Strike Out Swinging Club. It’s not very exclusive. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 4th Justin Turner up again and down again. That’s the eighth strikeout. Absolutely ridiculous game that he’s pitching here. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 4th Corey Seager is up here for the Dodgers, he gets Snell to a 2-2 count but he extends himself on a Snell offering to become the seventh strikeout victim of the game for the Dodgers, Rays 1-0 Dodgers, top 4th Alex Wood gets Kiermaier to strike out swinging. If the Dodgers win this game, and it’s still just a one-run game here, this dominant performance by Wood will not go unnoticed. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, top 4th Wood immediately gets Wendle to line out on the second pitch he sees. Rays manager Kevin Cash is barely three words into his manager’s interview when that happens. He says that Willy Adames is going to help out his club and soon. Adames strikes out swinging 20 seconds later. We’re happy to be with you all. Because the pandemic caused Literally All The Sports to play at the same time, we’ve had to pick and choose our spots. I would have loved to have liveblogged Game 4 but, honestly, I’m not sure I could have had anything coherent to say about that ninth inning besides “WHAT?” or “HOW?” Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 3rd Snell, as one would imagine, pitches to Betts a tad more carefully than he did the number nine hitter. Betts takes a strike and then two balls. Then Snell throws a fastball right down the middle, Betts would love that one back. 2-2. And Snell gets Mookie to strikeout for the second straight time. And the bumper music is “Sugar Magnolia.” Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 3rd Austin Barnes is up, Taylor still stuck on first. Barnes falls down 0-2 almost instantly and then grounds out to third. It’s an out, but Taylor’s on second now and it’s Mookie Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 3rd A.J. Pollock takes a strike and then fouls the next pitch off. He’s down 0-2. He fouls of the next one, staying alive. Snell throws one outside. 1-2. Pollock hammers the next pitch but right at the third baseman for the second out. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 3rd Chris Taylor hits a rocket off of Snell for the first Dodgers hit of Game 6. It feels like there’s been a drought but it’s really just the bottom of the third. Okay I’ve gotten confirmation that the last bit of bumper music was Phish, which means I’m now 100% certain a fellow jam band fan is responsible for MLB on Fox’s soundtrack tonight. Maybe some Quicksilver Messenger Service next? Rays 1-0 Dodgers, top 3rd Margot skies one to centerfield and that’s that. Wood gets a 1-2-3 inning. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, top 3rd Wood gets Brandon Lowe to ground out and he takes care of it himself. That’s two out in a blink. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, top 3rd Alex Wood is next up in the Dodgers’ Cavalcade of Pitchers. He gets Austin Meadows to strike out swinging. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 2nd Cody Bellinger is up next and he’s down 0-2 almost immediately and then swings at one way out for Snell’s fifth strikeout. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 2nd Will Smith, who famously hit off of the pitcher also named Will Smith earlier this postseason, is up next. Here he becomes Snell’s fourth strikeout victim. I’m just relieved that I’ve managed to survive that particular at-bat without a really bad Fresh Prince joke. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 2nd Well, Snell would probably have liked a cushion here, but it’s not like he can control that (particularly with the Universal DH in this World Series). He’s facing Max Muncy, who gets ahead of the count 2-1 and then barely hits one fair but there’s not enough time for him to leg out for an infield single. One down. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, top 2nd Arozarena is up with runners on first and second. This is a huge opportunity for him to put Snell in a perfect position this game. However, Dylan Floro comes into the game and strikes him out on three pitches to end the threat and the inning. Dave Roberts assuredly sighs with relief that the move ended up working out. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, top 2nd Choi is up next to see if he can get the runner in from second. He takes a ball and then swings and misses at a Gonsolin fastball. The next pitch is outside. 2-1. Choi fouls the next one off. 2-2. He’s one pitch out of escaping the situation. Well it won’t be that pitch, a slider inside. 3-2, with the hottest hitter in baseball on deck. And the next pitch is outside. So, Choi takes a walk to first and Dave Roberts is already pulling Gonsolin. It’s going to be a long night for the Dodgers bullpen. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, top 2nd Mike Zunino hits a massive foul home run, the Rays are getting some solid pitches to hit so far. He takes the next pitch and then swings at a breaking ball he could have done nothing with. He takes the next pitch for a full-count, the Gonsolin pitch count is now at 39. Okay, 40 now as Zunino stays alive by fouling the next pitch off. He just barely hits the next pitch, but it’s foul. Still 3-2. Now, Gonsolin gets him to swing and miss. Two down. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, top 2nd Kevin Kiermaier hits one where the outfielders’ ain’t and ends up on second base with one out. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, top 2nd Willy Adames strikes out looking to start the second. Email from Carl Taylor: Well, that was quite a strain for Gonsolin at the start of this pivotal Game 6. Not sure he will last more than 4 innings and with Snell’s starts usually curtailed, what’s the odds that the winning pitcher comes from the bullpen? Like 70% maybe? Gonsolin definitely is not long for this game no matter how well he settles down and neither team is going to be conservative about heading to the ‘pen. They will live their life like there’s no tomorrow, as Van Halen would say. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 1st Justin Turner, probably the Dodgers’ most dangerous weapon this series, is up next with bases empty after Snell got those first two quick strikeouts. He gets ahead 0-2 here before seeing if he’ll swing at a ball outside. Turner does not, but he strikes out on the next pitch. This time the bumper music is the Allman Brothers Band’s “Jessica.” Is it just going to be all hippie jam bands tonight? Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 1st And Snell immediately strikes out Corey Seager. Whew. Rays 1-0 Dodgers, bottom 1st Mookie Betts leads things off… with a strikeout courtesy of Snell. Email from X-G titled “Dodgers in a blow out!”: Hey Hunter, I sense it’s the City of angels year.. lakers, Dodgers, and the Rams! I gotta a feeling the rays have given all they had, reminiscent of the Lakers thrashing the Heat in the finals...7-1 Well they have to pitch a shutout the rest of the night, but it’s still on the table as a possibility.