LOS ANGELES – Dave Roberts’ bullpen trust tree had been uprooted, set aflame and turned into dust. His offense overwhelmed, his starting pitching overpowered, but the late innings offered no obvious solutions for the Dodgers’ manager, even against an inferior Reds opponent in the wild-card series.
Then up from the ashes rose a phoenix.
Enter rookie Roki Sasaki and his triple-digit heat to the bullpen fray.
“Wow,” Max Muncy said after Sasaki’s dominant ninth inning finished off a sweep Wednesday night. “That’s really all you can say, is ‘wow.’ That’s what we need right there.”
For most of Wednesday night, the blueprint looked the same as the evening prior. The Dodgers’ offense followed a 10-run onslaught in Game 1 with an eight-run fusillade in Game 2. Starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto followed Blake Snell’s seven-inning, nine-strikeout, two-run gem in Game 1 with a similar line, striking out nine and allowing two unearned runs in 6.2 innings.
Yamamoto escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the sixth inning and continued into the seventh, throwing a career-high 113 pitches before departing to an ovation. Roberts pushed him, as he’ll have to do with all his starters this October, considering the state of their relievers.
On both nights, the Dodgers barely overcame their most glaring weakness, a bullpen that threatens to implode their inexorable machine as they now get ready for a more formidable foe in Philadelphia in the next round.
They needed three relievers to get through a three-run, 59-pitch eighth inning in Tuesday’s 10-5 win. Wednesday’s eighth inning, a two-run, 41-pitch fiasco in an 8-4 win, was similarly ominous and disconcerting.
In an unfamiliar role, the game appeared to speed up on converted starter Emmet Sheehan, who allowed a single, a walk, another single, a wild pitch, another walk and a sacrifice fly when he nearly hit Will Benson with a 1-2 pitch, prompting Roberts to emerge from the dugout and take the ball. In the middle of the at-bat, Roberts went to southpaw Alex Vesia, his most-trusted arm in a bullpen that offers few places to turn.
“Honestly with how the playoffs come around, there’s no surprises,” Vesia said. “Doc [Roberts] made a name. He was trusting his intestine.”
Reds supervisor Terry Francona eliminated Benson and changed him with right-hander Miguel Andujar to get the platoon matchup. One pitch later, Vesia completed off the strikeout. After permitting a stroll to load the bases, Vesia then acquired TJ Friedl seeking to extinguish the menace and hold the Dodgers’ lead at 4.
“Doc’s a legend, man,” Vesia stated, “and that’s the s— that legends do proper there.”
Too usually, although, it has required a Houdini act for the Dodgers to persevere.
The bullpen did simply sufficient to flee a Reds staff with the worst OPS amongst all Nationwide League membership, however that very same effort towards a Phillies staff that gained each sequence between the golf equipment earlier this yr invitations catastrophe.
That’s what made Sasaki’s dazzling ninth-inning postseason debut so intriguing.
For many of his first yr stateside, it appeared like a misplaced season for this winter’s biggest prize. Probably the most coveted worldwide free agent had struggled to take care of the speed that piqued the curiosity of each Main League staff, hampered by a shoulder difficulty and unstable mechanics. The 23-year-old starter struggled to overlook bats in his first style of the majors and spent a lot of the yr on the injured record.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman couldn’t have imagined that model of Sasaki would finally be closing out a playoff sequence. However final month at Triple-A, a special model of the tantalizing right-hander appeared.
“Him taking the time to get wholesome and likewise get his supply in sync, it took him a number of minor league outings, however we noticed it return to the 2023 model of Roki,” Friedman stated.
The rate ticked again up. The Dodgers shifted Sasaki to a reduction function, envisioning somebody who may be capable to help them for the stretch run. He made two scoreless reduction appearances in Oklahoma Metropolis, then two extra again with the big-league membership earlier than season’s finish.
Now, the new-and-improved model of Sasaki is likely to be the late-inning reply the Dodgers have sorely lacked. Possibly, he can finish the carousel of ache.
“I belief him,” Roberts stated. “And he’s going to be pitching in leverage. So the extra you pitch guys and play guys, you be taught extra.”
Sasaki wanted solely 11 pitches to ship the Dodgers to the Nationwide League Division Collection. He made fast work of the Reds, combining a four-seam fastball that acquired as much as 101.4 mph with a darting splitter that completed off two strikeouts.
Within the course of, he captured the admiration and perception of his awestruck teammates.
“It seems like he desires it,” stated Miguel Rojas. “He desires to be on the market. He desires to be the nearer, and he desires to complete video games.”
“That man is gross,” stated Tanner Scott.
“We consider in him,” added Vesia.
It’s an auspicious improvement because the Dodgers transfer ahead. Their lineup is rolling, plating 18 runs over two video games within the wild-card sequence sweep. Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernandez every homered twice in Recreation 1. Mookie Betts picked up the place he left off on the finish of the yr, ending with six hits within the sequence and tying a Los Angeles playoff file with three doubles in Recreation 2. Their beginning pitching will rival any they’ll see so long as their repeat bid continues. They’ve gained 17 of their final 22 video games.
Now, the actual check awaits.
The Dodgers know who’ll begin Recreation 1 in Philadelphia, with Ohtani able to go for his first profession MLB playoff begin.
If Wednesday’s outing was any indication, they may have discovered somebody to complete it, too.
“I do not suppose our bullpen struggles are talent-related,” Friedman stated. “It is execution. We see it with strolling guys and getting behind in counts, which to me comes from confidence. So we have now to determine a technique to spark that, and if Roki’s outing tonight is that spark, it would not shock me.”
Rowan Kavner is an MLB author for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand coated the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved again to the West Coast in 2014. Observe him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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