What happened: Jake Bauers tracked high inside heat and laid off sliders and curveballs away to extend the left-on-left matchup. Snell opened with an 89.4-mph slider for strike one, then went to an 83.8-mph changeup with 34 inches of drop. The sequence ended with a two-run homer that flipped the NLCS Game 3 score.

Why it matters: It was Bauers' second straight marathon plate appearance after a 12-pitch walk against Yoshinobu Yamamoto two days earlier. Snell owns elite swing-and-miss stuff across four pitches, with all three secondaries near 50% whiff rates in his 2023 Cy Young season. A late go-ahead drive in that matchup shifted leverage-inning usage for the rest of the series.

What to watch: Starters are likely to keep testing Bauers up and in before going to breaking balls away. His extended at-bats have already forced elevated pitch counts in back-to-back games.