It worked, nothing else worked. They might come back as well.
The Dodgers must use their shocker again to save their season.
He's not Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He's not Jack Flaherty.
This must be specified – must be specified.
For the Dodgers, the National League Division Series decider against the San Diego Padres on Friday should be an exciting one.
What other options do they have after eight of their starters shut out the Padres in an 8-0 win at Petco Park on Wednesday night that tied the series at two games apiece?
“It's a good idea, obviously,” Superintendent Dave Roberts said.
The Dodgers have a broken rotation and a reliable bullpen. It would be convenient for them to remove the problematic part of their launch equation.
Bullpen games are not a strong cure for their starting problems, because relievers will quickly be exhausted if eight of them pitch every game.
But the Dodgers may be concerned about how they will face the New York Mets in the NL Championship Series once they get there. For the second, they only need to win one match, and the obvious answer to do that is through another match, especially since the players who participated in the fourth match will be able to recover with a day off on Thursday.
Dodgers reliever Michael Kopesh reacts during the third inning on Wednesday against the Padres.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“We've said it all year: This bullpen is special,” said left-hander Alex Vescia, who accounted for five of the Dodgers' 27-game winning streak in Game 4.
Of the 21 runs scored by the Padres in this best-of-five series, 15 were scored against Dodgers outfielders Yamamoto, Flaherty and Walker Buehler.
All six runs scored were scored in the Dodgers bullpen during a 10-2 blowout in Game 2, and four of them were the responsibility of Michael Grove and Edgardo Henriquez, who are not considered high-leverage weapons. Grove was effectively removed from the roster on Tuesday due to a shoulder injury.
There's something disconcerting about seeing the franchise's Sandy Koufax, Fernando Valenzuela and Clayton Kershaw resort to bullpen games at the season's most crucial moments, but Andrew Friedman's Dodgers are no Pozzi Bavasi Dodgers or Fred Clair's Dodgers.
Asked about fans who feel alienated by bullpen games, Vescia responded: “I would say they haven't watched enough Dodgers baseball this year to be that way. I would say if they looked at us they would have a different opinion.”
In their eight regular season games — back-to-back bullpen games, as opposed to games in which they posted a lead ahead of their starting pitcher — the Dodgers were 5-3 with an earned run average of 2.92.
With Ryan Brasier logging the first four innings of Game 4 as the designated opener, the Dodgers cruised through the first innings more efficiently than either starter.
Yamamoto was thrashed by five points in just three rounds in the first game, and his performance was alarming enough that Roberts was convinced he was tipping the balance. Flaherty allowed four runs in 5 innings in Game 2 and Buehler allowed six runs in five innings in Game 3.
Yamamoto, Flaherty and Buehler have a combined 10.13 ERA in the series. Sending one of them to the mound at Dodger Stadium in Game 5 would be a very vital gamble, especially with Yu Darvish starting for the Padres. Darvish has a history of success against the Dodgers and held them within one over seven innings in Game 2.
Against Dodgers relievers, the Padres hitters looked like the Dodgers hitters did against Darvish.
The game went more or less as the Dodgers had planned, thanks in large part to the effectiveness of Vesia, Evan Phillips and Daniel Hudson. Vesia was retired in the fourth inning on just 12 pitches, allowing him to return for the fifth inning to get two more wins. Phillips scored four runs on 10 pitches. Hudson threw nine pitches in a scoreless seventh inning.
Roberts used his most reliable pitchers to attack the core of the Padres lineup, calling on Michael Kopech in the third inning, Phillips in the fifth and Blake Treinen in the eighth.
“They were all great,” wide receiver Will Smith said. “They attacked the area, kept the players away, and scored nine zeros and we needed that tonight.”
The Dodgers will need that again from their bullpen on Friday. This is the best, and perhaps only, path to the NLCS.
