LOS ANGELES, CA — With only five games left in the regular season for the Dodgers, it again comes down to their bullpen to get their act together. They have a few who have performed well out of the pen with Alex Vesia at the top of the list. He should be their closer since the individuals considered for the roles of setup men and closers have failed too many times this season.
Case in point: Their last seven losses have come at the hands of Tanner Scott, twice, and Blake Treinen five times. The Dodgers have had 11 walk-off losses this season. Scott has 10 blown saves, which is the most in the Major Leagues this year, including the recent game where Shohei Ohtani went six innings of shutout ball, only to see his bullpen blow the game.
The Dodgers have several questions to solve before LA enters postseason play next week – Image Credit: Emma Sharon/Latino Sports
In the seventh inning, with LA ahead 4-0, rookies Jack Dreyer and Edgardo Henriquez gave up three runs to make it a 4-3 game. Vesia pitched a scoreless eighth inning, setting up Scott, who just needed to get three outs in the ninth inning against the bottom of the Diamondbacks lineup to preserve a 4-3 lead. Instead, he hit a batter, walked another, and gave up a walk-off single to Dominican Geraldo Perdomo.
This has been an all too familiar pattern this year for a Dodger team that can put runs on the board for an outstanding starting rotation, only to see games lost by a failing relief staff.
After the loss, manager Dave Roberts said, “After Shohei pitches the way he did and you have a 4-0 lead, thinking that using higher-leverage guys will keep those guys at bay. We didn’t have a good night. It turns out that the ninth became a leverage inning. But yeah, it’s hard to absorb those games, especially games that we need to win right now.”
Leverage guys?
The Dodgers now lead the Padres by two games for first place in the NL West following San Diego’s loss to Milwaukee Wednesday. LA could raise their division lead to 2.5 by the end of the night with a win against the Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers and Padres have been battling it out all season long for the NL West division crown – Image Credit: Emma Sharon/Latino Sports
The difference in seedings would be the Dodgers/Padres, the NL West division winner, hosting the Wild Card and facing a lesser opponent in the Mets or Reds, or going on the road for the best two of three set vs. the Cubs.
It will all come down to that box of chocolates in the bullpen where you don’t know what you’re gonna get every night.
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