After being a strength of their team all season, the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen was part of their downfall against the San Diego Padres in Game 4 of the National League Division Series.
The Dodgers carried a 3-0 lead into the seventh inning, but the bullpen combined to give up five runs to the Padres, which was enough for the loss.
Tommy Kahnle started the inning but was ineffective, issuing a leadoff walk and allowing two singles. Although the game was on the line in that moment, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts elected to bring in Yency Almonte rather than his relief ace in Evan Phillips.
“Evan was going to finish the game for us,” Roberts explained after the Dodgers were eliminated. “(Chris) Martin came in in the sixth inning and got through that, so at that point in time where they were at in the order, we felt that Yency was the right guy there.
“And having more right-handers than left-handers, and having Phillips at the back end to finish the game with potentially left- and right-handed hitters, we felt good about that.
“He gave up a ground ball that got by Max (Muncy) and then a base hit to (Juan) Soto and a punch and a pop-up. I feel good about Yency, and then again, the ground ball, Muncy could have fielded it, could have been a double play. It wasn’t to be. That’s baseball.”
Almonte promptly gave up a double and single that tied the game. While he had been one of the club’s best relievers all season, the decision to not use Phillips in that spot is a questionable one that may have cost the Dodgers their chance of holding the lead.
“I think it’s more of considering where we were at in the game and who was coming up, we felt good with the hitters coming up that Yency could take those guys down,” Roberts said.
After Almonte recorded two outs, he was then left in to face the left-handed hitting Jake Cronenworth and threw the first pitch for a ball. However, Roberts made a confusing decision to call on Alex Vesia with a 1-0 count to enter the game.
The move to bring in Vesia after a pitch had already been thrown was the result of some miscommunication within the team. Almonte was supposed to throw over to first base to give Vesia extra warmup pitches, but instead, the pitch was thrown and Vesia entered with a 1-0 count.
“No, he was ready,” Roberts said of Vesia. “I just wanted to buy a little bit more time. That was the thought. I’m not going to put a pitcher in there who doesn’t say that ‘I’m ready to go.’ He was ready, I was just hoping it was going to be 0-0 just to make sure we felt good about it.”
On a 2-2 pitch, Vesia gave up a two-run single to Cronenworth, and that was all the Padres needed to win the game.
Although it will never be known how much entering with a 1-0 count affected the outcome, it was an unfortunate and preventable situation in the biggest moment of the season. “It was just kind of all that stuff going on, I don’t know how it got lost in translation,” Roberts said.
Dodgers considered sticking with Anderson
Tyler Anderson started and pitched brilliantly. The left-hander gave up just two hits with no runs over five innings, but he was lifted from the game with just 86 pitches despite Roberts considering letting his starter go one more inning.
“There was some thought, but I thought where he was at with his pitch count, who was coming up, I just felt that we had enough arms to get through that,” Roberts said. “With a 2-0 lead, Soto, Machado coming up again, I just felt that he’s going to be in the 90s at that point in time, I felt that we had enough coverage.”
Make sure to follow Dodger Blue on Instagram! It’s the best way to see exclusive coverage from games and events, get your questions answered, and more!
