The Blue Jays ambushed Dodgers ace Blake Snell from the first pitch of Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday night, as he surrendered a home run on his very first offering to Toronto leadoff hitter Davis Schneider, then served up another long ball just two pitches later to slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. And while Snell gritted his teeth and settled in for much of the rest of the game, his final line—five earned runs, four walks and seven strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings—wasn‘t pretty compared to his previous results this postseason.

Some would attribute Snell’s lack of World Series success to a scrappy Blue Jays lineup whose put-it-in-play approach has led to the club grinding pitchers to a pulp and scoring a hefty amount of runs.

Only, Snell didn't exactly see it that way.

Snell feels he was “unlucky” in World Series Game 5 loss vs. Blue Jays

“I mean, they didn‘t really get to me,” Snell said after the Dodgers’ 6-1 loss. “First pitch of the game—97 fastball up and in, he [Davis Schneider] hits it 98, it goes out. Pretty unlucky. And then Vlad [Vladimir Guerrero Jr.], that‘s just a bad pitch. ... And then after that, pretty smooth sailing. Figured out their lineup, what they like to do.

“And [Daulton] Varsho gets a triple on a 78 exit [velocity]. It’s just unlucky. I’m not one to make excuses or anything close to that, but yeah, just pretty unlucky ..."

Snell went on to admit that he felt he had made a good pitch to Addison Barger—who led off with a single—in the seventh inning, but that he had to “be better” after walking the No. 9 hitter Andrés Giménez, whom he had previously struck out twice.

MLB fans were not impressed with Snell’s explanation.

Then, Snell was asked why he threw fewer fastballs after surrendering the first inning home run to Guerrero on a heater.

“I mean, Vlad’s a really good hitter, so you gotta do stuff there,” Snell said. “The rest of the lineup, yeah, they’re like ambushing—I mean, if we get to Game 7, I’ll probably see them again so I can’t say much but ... Vlad, good hitter. Schneider, he hit it one mph harder than I threw it. Good location.

“Varsho triple. Curveball, capped. Luck plays in baseball too.”

Fans weren't impressed with that answer either.

The Dodgers will turn to Yoshinobu Yamamoto as they attempt to keep their hopes of repeating alive in Game 6 against the Blue Jays.


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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Dodgers’ Blake Snell Ripped for Excuse He Made After Losing Game 5.