Blake Snell delivered a dominant performance on Wednesday as the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a sweep of the Colorado Rockies. Mookie Betts led the way with a grand slam. But a solo shot would have sufficed with Snell locked in and the bullpen holding up.
The Dodgers demonstrated the awesome power of their rotation over the last five games. Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s near no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles got the overpowering stretch started. After Snell’s outing in the finale against Colorado, Los Angeles made modern era history.
In the last five games, Dodgers starters have recorded 49 strikeouts while limiting opponents to a .091 average. No other team’s starters have ever reached 45+ strikeouts with a sub-.100 opponent batting average in a five-game span, per OptaSTATS.
The Dodgers unveil rotation’s potential
Yamamoto began this show of dominance in Saturday’s matchup against the Orioles. While the Dodgers would waste the near no-hitter, Yamamoto finished with an eye-popping stat line. The second-year pitcher allowed one run on one hit and two walks with 10 strikeouts in 8.2 innings.
Clayton Kershaw took the mound in the series finale against Baltimore. He worked 5.2 innings for the Dodgers, giving up two runs, four hits and one walk. The veteran lefty had eight strikeouts.
Tyler Glasnow got the ball for the opener against the Rockies and picked up his first win since March. The former All-Star had a no-hitter going when he was taken out of the game as his pitch count hit triple digits. Glasnow racked up 11 Ks in seven hitless innings.
The Dodgers turned to Emmet Sheehan in Tuesday’s contest. The 25-year-old starter gave up one run on three hits and one walk while striking out nine batters in seven innings.
Finally, Snell completed the historic five-game run on Wednesday. The two-time MVP bounced back from an ugly outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He allowed two hits and two walks with 11 strikeouts in six scoreless innings. Snell earned his fourth win of the season, snapping a three-game losing streak.
Injuries hampered the Dodgers’ pitching staff for the majority of the season. But the group is getting healthy and getting hot. The timing is perfect for a postseason push. Now, Los Angeles needs to show it can dominate stronger teams than the Orioles and Rockies.
