A Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen game strategy that worked so brilliantly last week against the San Diego Padres did not produce any similar results on Monday, which allowed the New York Mets to tie the National League Championship Series as it shifts to Citi Field.
With only Daniel Hudson and Ben Casparius used in a blowout win in Game 1, the Dodgers opted for a bullpen game the following afternoon and pushed Walker Buehler back to start Wednesday.
Unlike when the Dodgers leaned on their bullpen to stave off elimination against the Padres in Game 4 of the NL Division Series, their approach with the Mets called for Landon Knack to fill a bulk role.
He failed to do so, but manager Dave Roberts still did not utilize most of the Dodgers’ high-leverage options. In Hudson’s case, it was due to being unavailable. Alex Vesia not being on the Dodgers’ playoff roster because of an intercostal injury also impacted planning.
“Knack was going to have to pitch at some point in time. You have four high-leverage guys available. You have to be able to kind of still finish four innings of a game or three innings of a game,” Roberts explained after the 7-3 loss.
“So you’ve got to be able to get into the game at some point, too. Again, we don’t have Vesia. Hudson was down. You’ve got to get outs somehow.”
Brent Honeywell wound up providing the Dodgers with three scoreless innings. That bought the Dodgers offense some time but they continued to sputter with runners in scoring position.
Is Daniel Hudson injured?
When asked for specifics of what rendered Hudson unavailable in Game 2, Roberts only offered, “He just had some things that he couldn’t pitch today.”
Roberts added the expectation is Hudson should be in better position for Game 3, after receiving two days of rest.
Hudson dealt with some fatigue late in the regular season but otherwise was healthy this year. Hudson suffered an MCL sprain in his right knee that prevented him from pitching in the 2023 postseason.
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