The Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday, 4-0, stretching their winning streak to six games behind another strong starting pitching performance.
Blake Snell struck out six batters over six innings, though he walked three and hit one batter. The Pirates managed just two hits on Sunday after a combined 14 in the first two games of the series.
Snell was not satisfied with his own outing. "There were a couple innings there where, you know, get two quick outs and then full-count walk, full-count walk," he said. "It's not acceptable. Especially with, I feel good, I know I can command the ball. Honestly, it's lazy. It's me trying to get strikeouts instead of, you know, trying to go seven, eight, nine. So I definitely got to clean that up. But I know I'm going to do that, and just continue to get better, and learn, and grow."
Snell was the third starter in as many days for Los Angeles, following Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Friday and Tarik Skubal on Saturday. The three combined for 26 strikeouts, five walks and five earned runs over 19 innings. Tyler Glasnow is next in the rotation, and Shohei Ohtani is working his way back from injury with a bullpen session scheduled during an upcoming series in Atlanta.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts described what opposing offenses face when looking at the pitching staff. "It's daunting," he said. "As an offense — an opposing offense — to look at the probables you see Glasnow, Yamamoto, Snell, [Roki] Sasaki, and then potentially Shohei. It gets daunting."
Offensively, the bottom of the order carried the load. Center fielder Alek Thomas and catcher Hunter Feduccia, both filling in for injured All-Stars Andy Pages and Will Smith, drove in runs with consecutive singles in the fourth inning. That extended a one-run lead into a comfortable margin. Roberts had expressed concern before the game that Thomas might not match Pages at the plate, but Thomas has produced key hits in each of the last two games.
Snell also spoke about competing alongside some of the sport's top starters. "It's going to be a lot of good competition within the starting rotation," he said. "I'm really excited about it. I mean, being able to watch some of the best pitchers in the game and learn from them — their mentality, the way they attack — having those conversations are very big. I'm definitely grateful to be on the same team, but a lot to learn."
The Dodgers now stand at 80-51 and head to Atlanta for their next series.
