Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has often found himself at the center of criticism for bullpen management throughout his tenure, and that surfaced again after a 7-6 walk-off loss to the Houston Astros.
The Dodgers at one point held a 5-0 lead as rookie starter Justin Wrobleski reached the sixth inning for the first time in his career. The left-hander had successfully worked his way through traffic earlier in the night and was on the verge of doing so again when Roberts brought the hook with two outs in the sixth inning.
Evan Phillips took over and promptly allowed four hits in a row — each with a relatively low exit velocity — and so started the Astros’ comeback.
Following the loss, Roberts lamented his decision to remove Wrobleski and pointed to that as changing momentum in the game, per Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
“As soon as I took out Wrobleski, to be quite honest,” he acknowledged.
Had Wrobleski remained in the game, it would’ve amounted to facing Yainer Diaz, a right-handed hitter, for a third time. Ultimately, two runs were charged to Wrobleski in what still stood as the longest start of his career at 5.2 innings.
For Phillips, the night added onto recent struggles that’s led to getting demoted out of his Dodgers closer role.
The Astros completed their comeback by scoring runs off Daniel Hudson and Blake Treinen. Alex Bregman’s walk-off home run was against Treinen to lead off the bottom of the ninth.
Dave Roberts’ contract
For all of his success as Dodgers manager, Roberts is currently facing the reality of entering the 2025 season as the final year on his contract.
Roberts recently expressed hope of remaining Dodgers manager and signing a new contract with the team.
Roberts previously signed a three-year contract extension, his current deal that runs through 2025. It represented a second extension signed with the Dodgers since Roberts was hired as manager in November 2015.
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