More or less, Dave Roberts punted on Tuesday’s game.
That much was clear even before he sent utility man Enrique Hernández into an 8-0 game. He’d already pulled Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández even before the Padres had really begun to pile on Matt Sauer in the sixth inning. Nobody was even warming in the bullpen, but the Dodgers manager’s mind was as much on the 14 pitchers he had on the injured list — including starters Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki and Tony Gonsolin — as it was on who could help him win a series on Wednesday.
“With our offense, we don’t ever feel like we’re out of it,” first-year Dodgers reliever Kirby Yates said. “But there’s certain times where it’s like, ‘Let’s put ourselves in the best position to win tomorrow,’ and I think Doc’s really good at that.”
It certainly worked in his favor this week.
A day after pushing Sauer to a career-high 111 pitches in a game that morphed into a laugher and letting Enrique Hernández finish it off, the Dodgers used eight pitchers to secure a 5-2 victory over the Padres on Wednesday and a series win.
Just like they drew it up.
Well, not exactly.
Left-hander Justin Wrobleski had been listed as a starter, but on Wednesday morning, the Dodgers sent word that right-hander Ben Casparius would open in front of Wrobleski.
But that’s not how things played out, either.
The only action that Wrobleski got was warming up for the ninth inning only for Roberts to instead call on left-hander Alex Vesia, who struck out the side — including the left-handed-hitting Jake Cronenworth and Tyler Wade — for his third save of the season.
“It wasn’t a surprise to me, the resilience,” Roberts said. “After having a clunker last night, to come back and be prepared out of the pen and guys perform to find a way to win a series. That was our goal coming into this ballpark, and we did that. … We do a good job of turning the page.”
They turned a lot of pages Wednesday.
Casparius pitched his way through four innings of one-run ball, dodging a bullet when he got Fernando Tatis Jr. to fly out to right to end the second with the bases loaded.
The parade that followed included Lou Trivino pitching a scoreless frame after opening Tuesday’s game, Yates retiring Xander Bogaerts on a flyball to right to end the sixth inning and Anthony Banda stranding all three of Michael Kopech’s walks by getting Luis Arraez to pop out and Manny Machado to ground out to end the seventh.
From there, former Padres closer Tanner Scott was called on for the Padres’ most dangerous lefties (Jackson Merrill and Gavin Sheets), and Vesia was called on for the other two lefties (Cronenworth and Wade).
All those arms were available because the Dodgers knew the odds were stacked against them on Tuesday.
It was only the middle of June, too, so the Dodgers acted accordingly.
Said Yates: “I think it’s hard to say that a game in the middle of June or whatever we are in feels like October. It’s just more about important games season in June in the season. You can tell there’s a sense of urgency to win the games, probably on both sides.
“I don’t think anybody wanted to lose this series.
“I know we didn’t want to lose this series.”
