Dodgers’ ‘pen outduels Ohtani: ‘Something for us to build on’
ANAHEIM — Over the final month, the Dodgers struggled greater than they’ve grown accustomed to, and the bullpen wore a lot of the blame because the staff fell to 3rd place within the National League West.
The Dodgers’ bullpen got here into the two-game sequence towards the Angels with a 5.04 ERA, the second-worst mark within the Majors behind the A’s, who’ve the worst report in baseball. It was fairly the sudden turnaround for a aid corps that was seen as a energy final season.
On Wednesday, that very same bullpen was known as upon to sq. off towards Angels two-way celebrity Shohei Ohtani, who was making his first begin towards the Dodgers. On paper, given the way in which Ohtani and the Dodgers’ bullpen have carried out on the mound, this was a major mismatch.
Games aren’t performed on paper, nevertheless, and a bunch of seven Dodgers relievers outdueled Ohtani by tossing a two-hitter in a 2-0 win at Angel Stadium. It’s simply the second time the Dodgers have shut out the Angels in back-to-back video games, which they final did on June 27-28, 2008.
“Any time you’re talking about the bullpen, it’s like a relay race, it’s pass the baton to the next guy,” mentioned Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts. “They’re really tight. And so when one guy is scuffling, you can sense that they’re all feeling it. And conversely, when one guy is doing well, throws a good inning, then the next guy wants to do the same thing. So tonight was picture perfect.”
Originally, the Dodgers had plans of utilizing Michael Grove to take down the majority of the innings. But Roberts mentioned they shifted these plans late Tuesday evening and notified the Angels early Wednesday that they have been going to deploy a bullpen sport as an alternative.
Brusdar Graterol was advised on Tuesday evening that he would open the sport, and he didn’t disappoint. The right-hander delivered one in every of his greatest performances in weeks, placing out three over two scoreless innings.
That set the tone for the remainder of the Dodgers’ bullpen.
Victor González adopted with 1 1/3 innings, getting some assist from a terrific defensive play by David Peralta and Will Smith. With Luis Rengifo tagging to attain, Peralta made a powerful throw to the plate and Smith executed an ideal tag for the second consecutive evening, retaining the sport scoreless.
Once González bought by his a part of the lineup, in got here Yency Almonte, who additionally went 1 1/3 innings. Almonte struggled to start out the season, however the right-hander has been way more environment friendly over the previous couple of weeks.
“Bullpen games are pretty difficult to navigate,” mentioned Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, who opened the scoring with a solo homer off Ohtani within the fourth. “They did an incredible job tonight.”
Perhaps the pitcher who most wanted a stable outing was Alex Vesia. The left-hander was one of many Dodgers’ greatest relievers in every of the previous two seasons, however he has been one of the ineffective arms in 2023. In the fifth, Vesia labored his means out of a jam by getting Hunter Renfroe to fly out with the tying run in scoring place.
Vesia was then trusted by Roberts to face Ohtani and Mike Trout within the sixth, and he got here by, getting Ohtani to come out and placing out Trout swinging.
“It gives them confidence,” Roberts mentioned. “We’ve never debated the arm talent, what these guys have done, but certainly [regarding] performance, the last couple of nights has been the level that we had expected. So it’s something for us to build on.”
The fifth pitcher of the evening was Ryan Brasier, who retired all 4 batters he confronted in his Dodgers debut. That opened the lane for Caleb Ferguson to take down a scoreless eighth for the second consecutive evening and Evan Phillips within the ninth for his second straight save.
“Guys have been grinding,” Ferguson mentioned. “I don’t really think it’s been as far off as it looks. Just a couple better pitches here, couple better pitches there and things are a lot different. But kudos to everybody for putting their head down and keeping grinding. Just continuing to get through the rough patch.”
Ferguson talked about that the bullpen has had inner conversations amid this stunning stretch. They haven’t been something formal, however there was a way of urgency to get again on monitor. And for 2 nights, it regarded extra just like the Dodgers bullpen of previous.
If that continues, it will be a large growth for Los Angeles.
“[It’s a] ‘you’ve got to see it to believe it’ kind of thing,” Phillips mentioned. “Success breeds confidence.”
