The Los Angeles Dodgers dropped the series finale against the Athletics, 7-1, but didn’t give their full effort during the game.
The Dodgers pushed back Shohei Ohtani’s scheduled start and instead had Charlie Barnes pitch seven of the eight innings despite giving up seven runs. Mookie Betts was also scratched before the game, and Freddie Freeman was removed after the fifth inning.
It was a classic punt game that the Dodgers have followed, focusing on protecting their players for future games rather than going all out to win one.
Although the strategy has paid off more often than not, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged how difficult it is in real time.
“It’s hard. Even taking Freddie out after the fifth inning doesn’t feel good,” Roberts said. “But just appreciating the fact we are in the midst of 13 in a row, he’s playing well, and give him an abbreviated day to hopefully get us some equity for the next handful of days before the off day.
“But yeah, it’s part of it. You do have to take the long view at times, but it doesn’t always feel good in the middle of it.”
The Dodgers have been no strangers to these types of punt games, even deploying the strategy in the 2024 World Series while they were short on starting pitching.
The team believes the rewards of waving the white flag in a game outweigh one loss, and it allows them to reset moving forward.
The Dodgers just completed six games in a row on the road with another seven coming up at home, including a four-game series against the San Diego Padres.
Even without a day off for nearly two weeks, the Dodgers were still able to reset their bullpen and rotation to finish off these next seven days strong against a pair of division opponents.
Dodgers expect Mookie Betts back on Thursday
The Dodgers announced Betts missed the series finale due to right wrist soreness, but don’t believe it’s anything to be concerned about.
The Dodgers wanted to get ahead of the injury, and Betts should be back in the Dodgers lineup for the start of their series against the Padres.
Although the Dodgers are optimistic in Betts’ status moving forward, it would not be a surprise if he missed one more game because of some lingering soreness. The team routinely errs on the side of caution, and certainly will do so with Betts should it become necessary.
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