The Los Angeles Dodgers have made a habit of aggressively utilizing their bullpen under manager Dave Roberts. It earned them positive results more times than not in 2016 and 2017, but this season has seen inconsistency.
At various points thus far Scott Alexander, Pedro Baez and Kenley Jansen have struggled. In Friday’s series opener, Baez and Tony Cingrani were responsible for failing to back another strong start by Hyun-Jin Ryu and protect a 4-2 lead.
Cingrani was the first of the two to enter, taking the mound to start the bottom of the seventh inning. Brandon Belt led off with a bunt single to beat the shift, then moved into scoring position on a wild pitch.
Cingrani began to shake his arm, seemingly looking for some feeling, and was checked on by a trainer. He remained in the game and proceeded to allow an RBI single followed by a game-tying double.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said during his postgame interview that Cingrani dealt with dead arm.
Despite his spotty track record, which dates back multiple seasons now, Baez was called on in the high-leverage situation. His first pitch to Joe Panik was for ball.
Baez failed to get the second one there. His footing gave out and the baseball never left his hand. Baez explained what caused the balk that drove in the go-ahead run, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“(The mound) seemed to be a little muddy,” Baez said through an interpreter. “When I went to step, I kind of got caught up in the mud.”
Panik’s at-bat ended with a sacrifice fly that extended the Giants’ lead to 6-4, which held as the final score. The Giants answered the Dodgers’ four-run fourth inning with one of their own in the seventh.
The loss was the Dodgers’ 23rd in their last 33 games at AT&T Park. They finish out the weekend with a doubleheader on Saturday followed by a series finale Sunday night.
