Over the past two seasons the Los Angeles Dodgers have heavily relied on their bullpen and received positive results more times than not. Friday night, manager Dave Roberts was forced into his bullpen in the second inning because of Yu Darvish’s struggles against the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the World Series.
Despite the off-day prior to Game 3, it was hardly an ideal set of circumstances in the first of three consecutive games. After Darvish allowed four runs in just 1.2 innings of work, Kenta Maeda threw 42 pitches over 2.2 scoreless innings in his longest outing since going three innings on Sept. 21.
Tony Watson (18 pitches) allowed an unearned run in his one inning of work, Brandon Morrow (13) and Tony Cingrani (eight) each recorded two outs, and Ross Stripling (15) went 1.1 innings.
“Everyone [Saturday] is available, outside of Kenta,” Roberts said after his club’s 5-3 loss. “And Alex is going to have to go deep.
“But I think, like I said, everyone is available, and we’ve got Kersh going Game 5. They’ll be available. They’ll be fine.”
Wood went at least six innings in nine of his final 10 starts to close out the regular season. He struggled some against the Chicago Cubs in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, and was lifted after allowing three runs — all via solo home runs — in 4.2 innings.
The start was Wood’s first in three weeks. What’s been an Achilles heel for the southpaw since the All-Star break is keeping the ball on the ground. Prior to the Midsummer Classic, Wood sported a 63.5 percent ground ball rate that dropped to 44.2 percent in the second half.
Furthermore, Wood’s strikeout rate decreased from 31 percent to 18 percent over that same span. The Dodgers will need him to pitch at the level that earned a selection to the All-Star Game, not only to help ease the load on the bullpen but to help the team avoid falling into a 3-1 series deficit.
