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

"I trust Roki. I trust Blake. You've just got to attack the zone better," Snell said. "They had a lot of walks there, had one hit, but those guys are going to figure it out. They're really good."

Freddie Freeman's solo homer to right field in the sixth inning off

See Full Page