Snell lifts L.A. to solo first with an assist from catcher (3, actually)

LOS ANGELES -- It wasn’t the prettiest outing, but Blake Snell pushed through.

The 32-year-old left hander gave up four hits to the first five batters he saw Saturday night but then retired 12 of the next 13 Padres he faced as he settled in to pitch six innings in the Dodgers’ 6-0 win at Dodger Stadium.

L.A. regained sole possession of first place in the NL West, moving a game ahead of the Padres, while also clinching the season series and the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Catcher Will Smith helped Snell find his footing by throwing out three baserunners trying to steal in the first two innings.

“Early on, I was just kind of feeling out where I was at,” Snell said. “They had some good hits. Will held it down. Through two innings, he had three outs and I had three outs. So we were competing. But that kind of set the tone.”

As his outing wore on on Saturday, Snell kept adapting.

It was Snell’s first start against the Padres since he left them in free agency after his second Cy Young Award season, in 2023, and he was well aware of their familiarity with him -- and vice versa.

“I was there for three years; I know this team really well,” Snell said. “But there was a lot of stuff that I was learning just throughout the game and then I kind of settled in once I understood what they were trying to do."

Snell picked up on as many tells as he could -- what pitches the Padres were taking, which ones they were swinging at. Their aggressiveness on the bases early jumped out at Snell. Three of the first four outs recorded by the Dodgers came via Smith’s arm.

The Dodgers took advantage of Padres starter Dylan Cease’s command issues and raced out to a five-run lead in the first two innings, giving Snell some room for error.

From there, Snell took over for his second consecutive scoreless outing, coming off the heels of his five-inning 10-strikeout performance against the Blue Jays Aug. 9.

After that start, Snell pointed to his fastball command as something he wanted to work on, and he had it going on Saturday. With the four-seamer making up the bulk of his pitches, Snell drew six of his 15 whiffs on the heater. It also accounted for five called strikes.

“The results have been good, but there's things I need to do better,” Snell said. “It can't be this way forever. If I'm not efficient, dominating the zone, the shapes of pitches aren't where I want them. The results are good, but I'm chasing something different than that. So I got to get better.”

Considering this was Snell’s fifth start of the season, and his third since returning from an extended stay on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation, this is still what he considers his first half. He’s still watching games, breaking down hitters’ swings and learning them.

Only after all that will he start to feel truly settled in.

“Early on you don't know,” Snell said. “People change their swings -- they go to hitting coaches, they're all adjusting. So you've got to figure that out. But everyone, they are who they are. You adjust and figure out how to get them out, what they're weak at and also you attack their strengths too because it's a mind game, too. So you kind of do both, but you've got to know your spots.”

On Saturday, Snell figured out just enough to give the Dodgers six innings, a day after Clayton Kershaw did the same.

“It's good. It's big,” manager Dave Roberts said. “... I think that if you look at our ’pen, it's going to be six or seven guys that are available tomorrow. I feel good about all of them to prevent runs, and that starts with Clayton and what Blake did tonight.”