The Los Angeles Dodgers desperately needed to see Roki Sasaki turn in a solid outing before the All-Star break. 

Though it wasn't pretty, Sasaki managed to turn in six innings against the Colorado Rockies in a tight 4-3 series win Wednesday night. 

Sasaki started strong during his first inning of work, retiring the first three Rockies hitters in order on nine pitches. Heading into the second inning, the right-hander was working with a three-run cushion after Kyle Tucker's two-run RBI single the previous inning. 

It wasn't until he faced Kyle Karros with one out in the second that Karros took Sasaki's 1-1 fastball 417 feet to the left-center field wall. One batter later, Edouard Julien smoked a solo shot of his own to cut the deficit by one. 

The Rockies eventually tied the game 3-3 on a Mickey Moniak sacrifice fly the following inning.

It looked as though Colorado would tag on more as TJ Rumfield and Karros led off the fourth with base knocks, but Sasaki showed signs of life and escaped the early jam. 

"You could see the demeanor walking off the mound, the confidence," skipper Dave Roberts told the media via SportsNetLA.  

“It was good to see him bow his neck and go compete. Giving up 3 runs at that point, there was some stress, he found a way," Roberts said. 

Sasaki retired the final nine batters that he faced following the early fourth-inning jam and finished off the first half of the season with a 5.33 ERA. 

As for what Sasaki wants to improve on for the second half of the season, it's the effectiveness of his off-speed pitches. 

"I feel like I need to work on off-speed pitches, especially. If I had better stuff right there, I think I would be able to pitch a little easier," Sasaki told the media via SportsNetLA. 

 “I think I need to put my forkball over the plate. I need it to look just like a fastball and drop later. I think that’s something I will work on.” 

On the opposing end, Rockies right-hander Gabriel Hughes kept the Dodgers in check through his six innings of work. After giving up a three-spot in the first inning, Hughes went on to retire the next 16 of the final 17 batters he faced. 

Despite the onset struggles from the Dodgers' 1-9 for a good chunk of the game, they managed to drive in their fourth run of the game via the go-ahead RBI single from Mookie Betts in the eighth on a sufficient 3-2 count off Antonio Senzatela. 

“It’s kind of like when you’re a kid playing in the backyard; getting that hit is kind of what you strive to do and fortunately I was able to do it," Bett's told the media via SportsNetLA. 

Tanner Scott came in the ninth inning and shut the door to give the Dodgers their fifth consecutive series win. 

With the win, the Dodgers improve to 61-33 heading into the final off day of the first half before capping off their final slew of games before the All-Star Game. 

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