Blake Snell dominates in return, but Dodgers need 10 innings to walk off Royals

LOS ANGELES — Blake Snell’s mission was set into motion on Tuesday with an outing befitting a two-time Cy Young Award winner.

It was the rest of the night that struggled to meet Snell’s standard until Max Muncy delivered a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

Snell struck out seven of the first 10 batters he faced and gave up one run over six innings in his first start in three months, but not much else has changed as the Dodgers struggled on offense until the late innings. They won consecutive games for the first time since last month.

The Dodgers needed every bit of what Snell had to offer. The team’s stagnant offense was near dormant again until Alex Call and Teoscar Hernandez had RBI doubles in the seventh inning.

After a three-month recovery from a procedure to remove bone chips from his left elbow, Snell flashed his vintage form. He primarily leaned into his four-seam fastball, which averaged 96.2 mph and registered as high as 97.6 mph.

The Royals were held to three hits over the first six innings and Snell showed his command is in fine form with 10 strikeouts and just one walk.

It was just as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts promised on Monday and again Tuesday afternoon before Snell returned.

“I think coming back, like I said (Monday), he’s on a mission, and it starts tonight,” Roberts said, setting the stage for the outing. “Granted, it’s his first start (of the return), but like we talked about, we’re in it right now. We got to play well. We need a good start out of him.”

The tepid offense has only increased the Dodgers’ need for ace-like pitching performances. A lack of runs led to the team’s recent 1-8 stretch, and Monday’s 6-5 victory over the Royals required a comeback in the late innings.

Mookie Betts showed some rare power of late with a home run in the second inning for a 1-0 lead on Tuesday. It was Betts’ 14th home run of the season but just his first in 19 games.

The Royals got even in the fourth inning. Bobby Witt Jr. and Jac Caglianone both singled with one out to put runners on the corners. Salvador Perez followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the score 1-all.

Snell escaped a jam in the fifth inning that preserved the tie. The Royals’ Tyler Tolbert led off with a double and stole third base. Snell then struck out John Rave and Kyle Isbel before Nick Loftin grounded out.

With the Dodgers hoping for five innings and somewhere between 75-80 pitches from Snell, he topped both estimates by going six innings on 84 pitches.

With runs again at a premium, the Dodgers finally moved in front in the seventh when Betts doubled with one out and scored on Call’s two-out double to right field just inside the first-base bag. Call, who was making his first start since July 21, was playing left field in place of Hernandez.

Hernandez then came on as a pinch hitter for catcher Ben Rortvedt and doubled to left-center to score Call for a 3-1 lead.

The Dodgers were unable to preserve the advantage in the eighth inning when Caglianone and Perez had back-to-back RBI singles against Evan Phillips to tie the score.

Jack Dreyer entered to allow a deep fly ball to center by Carter Jensen, but Caglianone scored from second when Andy Pages caught the ball near the wall for the out then dropped it while making the transfer to his throwing hand.

Betts’ game-tying single in the eighth gave him multiple RBIs for the first time in 11 games.

More to come on this story.