The Blake Snell Cy Young agenda is in full effect. He took the mound in a big rubber match as the Padres faced off against their division rival Dodgers for the final time this season. Snell made sure that San Diego was going to come out on top as he dominated the Los Angeles lineup and kept their offense from doing any major damage. Meanwhile, the Padre offense used a couple of big swings to put enough distance between them and the Dodgers to finish off a 6-1 win and take the series. The team will now have a well-earned off day before heading to their next stop on the road trip.

Here are three takeaways from the win:

Soto, Campusano provide the power

Thanks to a couple of important swings from Juan Soto and Luis Campusano, the Padres were able to do a nice job providing Blake Snell with the necessary run support. Soto was the one to strike first, as he opened the scoring in the game with a solo home run in the first inning to give San Diego an early lead.

In the fourth inning, Campusano would get himself involved with a crucial three-run home run to put the team up 4-0. Campusano should end up getting most of the starts at catcher for the rest of the season with Gary Sanchez on the injured list.

The duo did an excellent job as they combined to hand Ryan Pepiot his first loss of the year along with his worst overall start. The win helped the Padres keep Los Angeles from getting any closer to clinching their postseason berth and gave San Diego the last laugh in the two teams’ final contest of the season.

Bullpen does a nice job holding it down

After Blake Snell’s dominating start, the Padres were still left with 9 more outs to record if they wanted to get to the finish line with a win. Robert Suarez, Nick Martinez, and Tom Cosgrove each helped out in a solid effort to get the job done and keep the Dodger lineup from breaking through. Each of them was able to pitch a scoreless inning with only 2 combined hits allowed in the final three innings. It was a great job as the Dodgers failed to capitalize on their prime opportunity to sneak back into the game with Snell’s start completed. The San Diego bullpen had other plans for them and put the game on ice as it was Tom Cosgrove who put on the finishing touches. He has had himself a sneaky good season, with his ERA on the season standing at 1.60 over 46 appearances. It was an overall impressive showing from the bullpen as they made sure things stayed on track in a divisional victory.

Blake Snell strengthens his case for the NL Cy Young

While there are some very talented pitchers to pitch alongside Blake Snell in the National League such as Justin Steele and Zac Gallen, Snell’s latest performance has further added to his case for the Cy Young award. In what will be an incredibly close race, every start matters for Snell, and he made sure to let the voters know that he was locked in for his start against the Dodgers. The red-hot Snell made one of the best lineups in baseball look simply clueless as he danced his way through 6 innings of work without allowing a run. He allowed just 1 hit as the Dodgers struck out 8 times and failed to put up a fight. Snell’s main issue this season, which has been his walks, was under control tonight as he only allowed one free pass during his start. He was able to grab the win and improve his record on the year to 14-9 with just about half of a month to play in the 2023 season.

Snell’s torching pace over the second half of the season has been quite remarkable, as his ERA over his last 20 starts is at a ridiculous 1.31. His main competition for the Cy Young award, Cubs lefty Justin Steele, has also put together quite the season. Steele poses as a dangerous threat with his 2.49 ERA and has allowed 3 ER or fewer in 25 of 27 starts this season. The race will come down to the last few starts of the season for the duo, and Padre fans across the league would love to see Snell become 7th player in MLB history to take home a Cy Young award in both the NL and AL.

The Padres will be back at it on Friday as their road trip continues against the Oakland Athletics, who they will battle for three games. It will be a nice opportunity for San Diego to win some games over a squad that is tied with the Royals for the lowest win total in all of baseball.

First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. PT.