LA's rotation looking deep as ever, with Snell latest starter to dominate

LOS ANGELES -- Another day, another gem from a Dodgers starting pitcher.

Blake Snell continued a stretch of dominance from the rotation by striking out a season-high 11 across six scoreless innings as the Dodgers sealed a three-game sweep of the Rockies with a 9-0 win on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

"It's just been amazing," said shortstop Mookie Betts, who hit a grand slam in the eighth inning and drove in five runs in total. "We can't ask for anything better. No other team can really ask for anything better than what our guys are doing right now, so we just have to jump on their back and ride 'em."

Following a Padres loss, the Dodgers' lead in the NL West is up to three games, their largest cushion since Aug. 9. They remain four games back of the Phillies for the NL's second seed and first-round bye.

Snell put the finishing touches on a stellar turn through the Dodgers' rotation. Here's how the others fared leading up to Wednesday:

• Friday, Shohei Ohtani: 3 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 5 K, 1 BB
• Saturday, Yoshinobu Yamamoto: 8 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 10 K, 2 BB
• Sunday, Clayton Kershaw: 5 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 8 K, 1 BB
• Monday, Tyler Glasnow: 7 IP, 1 ER, 0 H, 11 K, 2 BB
• Tuesday, Emmet Sheehan: 7 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 9 K, 1 BB

Add in Snell's outing, and the six-man rotation combined to post an MLB-best 1.18 ERA in that span, which included two no-hit bids that went into the ninth inning.

Snell gave up the earliest hit by a Dodgers starter this series, allowing a Tyler Freeman single in the third.

“This week’s been fun," Snell said. "I was definitely thinking about it. Like, ‘Damn, we got guys throwing no-nos.’ But it’s fun. Internal competition. You’re excited for everyone and their success, and you want to add to it."

It should be noted that those six games came against the Orioles and Rockies, two last-place teams with negative run differentials. But the Dodgers have not exactly dominated teams with losing records lately, having been swept by the Pirates before dropping two of three to Baltimore.

With time running out to pull away in a tight division race, every game matters. The Dodgers did what they needed to do this series: Take care of business against a weaker opponent to put themselves in a better position when the competition gets tougher later on.

It goes a long way when every starter in the rotation has elite stuff. From there, it's about putting the pieces together.

"It certainly changes a lot. You feel like you’re in every game," manager Dave Roberts said. "You’ve just got to kind of get the offense going. It’s nice. Every night, you can pencil in a guy that you feel gives you a real good chance to prevent runs."

The Dodgers aren't used to having this wealth of starting pitching. Last postseason, they managed to win the World Series using only three starters in traditional roles. Earlier this year, there was a point when Yamamoto and Dustin May were the only remaining healthy members of the Opening Day rotation.

What a difference a few months can make.

As long as the starters stay healthy and continue on this same trajectory, the Dodgers will have some difficult decisions cut out for them come October. The postseason rotation has long seemed poised to be Yamamoto, Snell, Ohtani and Glasnow, in some order. But given the bodies of work from Kershaw and Sheehan, it would seem they've earned a spot on the roster.

The Dodgers could get creative if need be. There could be tandem starts, which Sheehan has experience with, twice following Ohtani out of the bullpen this year. There have also been scattered musings of using Ohtani as a high-leverage reliever, although that's complicated by his two-way player status.

When it comes down to it, these are options that the Dodgers did not have last year. While they won it all in spite of their starting pitching situation back then, their rotation looks to be their biggest strength in the final weeks of the regular season.

"Starters are leading the charge here," catcher Ben Rortvedt said. "That's what I've seen this week, sky's the limit. Everyone's got plus stuff. These guys are confident, they're hungry and it's about time that we're going to get going."