Blake Snell baffled batters for eight innings but the Los Angeles Dodgers nearly squandered his heroic effort before taking a 2-1 victory at Milwaukee on Monday in their Major League Baseball playoff series opener.

Snell surrendered only one hit over eight shutout innings. The 32-year-old American left-hander delivered a playoff career high 10 strikeouts with no walks and faced the minimum 24 batters, retiring the last 17 he faced.

"If you can 'locate' the fastball, it sets everything else up," Snell said.

But after Japanese closer Roki Saski surrendered a run and loaded the bases in the ninth, it took reliever Blake Treinen striking out Brice Turang with the bases loaded to preserve a tension-packed victory for the defending World Series champions.

"I trust Roki. I trust Blake. You've

See Full Page