LOS ANGELES ― The Dodgers’ victory over the Colorado Rockies last Wednesday night was most memorable for how it ended.

The bases were loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning with the score tied 1-1 when Mookie Betts chopped a ground ball over the mound. Rockies shortstop Jose Iglesias and second baseman Brendan Rodgers converged. Iglesias fielded the ball on the run and twisted his torso to throw home. Rodgers appeared to get in the way of his teammate. The ball never left Iglesias’ hand, Cody Bellinger scored with a superfluous slide, and the game was over. The Dodgers won, 2-1.

On another night, the run might have meant little. This time, it made the difference between a potential extra-innings quagmire and a dramatic victory. The win was made possible because of how it began: Mitch White, the Dodgers’ starting pitcher, took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and allowed his only run as a result of a fielding error.

White, who starts for the Dodgers on Tuesday in St. Louis, is the least-heralded member of a decorated starting rotation. Clayton Kershaw and Tony Gonsolin are going to the All-Star game. Julio Urías and Tyler Anderson have strong All-Star cases too.

White is filling in for left-hander Andrew Heaney, who has made only three starts because of a shoulder injury but allowed only one run across 15⅓ innings. The Dodgers’ other injured starter, Walker Buehler, is a two-time All-Star who has started Game 1 of the last three postseasons.

In his fill-in role, White has made 12 appearances (seven starts) in 2022, going 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has called him an “unsung hero” of the pitching staff.

It is easy to take for granted the Dodgers’ ability to uncover quality pitchers where other organizations cannot. In the case of White, his sudden success against the Rockies did not come out of nowhere. It was the direct – and somewhat unexpected – result of the type of collaboration Dodger players are often quick to credit, but rarely discuss in detail.

In White’s case, his success was born out of a mechanical tweak that involved multiple pitching coaches, the strength and conditioning staff, and one highly adaptable pitcher.

The pitcher, White, didn’t volunteer much of an explanation after seeing the velocity on all his pitches jump by a full mile per hour, on average, in Wednesday’s game. A 96.2 mph sinker to Kris Bryant – in his sixth and final inning, no less – was the fastest he’s thrown a baseball this season.

“It’s just a mechanical thing, using my legs a little better, something I’ve been working on with Mark (Prior, the Dodgers’ pitching coach) and Conor (McGuiness, the assistant pitching coach),” White said.

McGuiness was a little more forthcoming. After his June 30 start against the Padres, in which White allowed six hits in 4⅔ innings, the Dodgers’ coaching staff did a deep dive on White’s mechanical efficiency.

“When we get the report breakdown and look at it,” McGuiness said, “you’re (asking) is there something very significant? Is it noise? Is it real? Is it smoke? Where are we at with it, and what’s the lowest-hanging fruit? Could we implement it quickly? And honestly, it was a simple adjustment that he had gotten away from in his previous start.”

White went back to work on some drills targeting his lower body that McGuiness said he had “gotten away from in his previous start … using the ground, let the arm go along for the ride.”

Drills do not always yield results, and not always so quickly. In this case, White did three other things to facilitate a big leap in the span of six days.

One, McGuinness said, “the strength staff did an awesome job tag-teaming it for him too, so he’s doing some stuff in the weight room to help it as well.”

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Two, pitching coach Mark Prior recommended White move from the third-base side of the rubber to the middle. That amplified the effect of White’s lower-body mechanical tweak, while affecting the hitters’ visual adjustment to White’s delivery, McGuiness said.

Three, White began throwing a sinker in June. On Wednesday, he threw more of them than he had in any previous start. The Rockies seemed caught off-guard by the pitch, to say nothing of its speed.

“He’s flashing that two-seamer now which gives him a lot more space for the slider away,” McGuiness said. “He worked really hard last year on developing his slider. He could always spin a baseball. He moved on the rubber, found a little more freedom with his hips. It all came to fruition. It paid off quickly, a lot faster than we anticipated, to be honest with you.”

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Dodgers (RHP Mitch White, 1-1, 3.38 ERA) at St. Louis (LHP Matthew Liberatore, 2-1, 4.74 ERA), Tuesday, 4:45 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM