Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts put on a managerial masterclass on Tuesday, October 6th, pulling all the right strings.
Why Game 3 was so crucial
The Dodgers were in danger of going full win-or-go-home mode after losing Game 3 to the Atlanta Braves.
LA had their best starter going in Yoshinobu Yamamoto, with Tarik Skubal already used, and an inconsistent Tyler Glasnow left to deploy.
Additionally, Chris Sale took the mound as Atlanta’s starter, and the home crowd got to see a good amount of their bullpen.
With so much at stake and the Dodgers’ offense struggling mightily in Game 2, Roberts had his back against the wall, and instead of running the same old lineup and crew, he put on his managerial cap and made some pivotal changes.
The lineup tweaks
Overall, the offense went into battle mode against Chris Sale, taking a good number of pitches and making strong swing decisions for the most part.
Sale lasted only five innings as the starter, allowing seven hits and three runs while striking out seven.
Roberts challenged the offense, especially struggling players like Will Smith and Shohei Ohtani, to really hunker down and fight, fouling off pitches and really looking at where pitches were going.
Additionally, he put in Kike Hernandez to hit for Max Muncy. Muncy had two home runs over the first two NLDS games, but against a southpaw, Roberts put in Hernandez.
Kike Hernandez has one of the best postseason resumes of all time, but he was injured for most of the year, didn’t play much, and struggled at the plate when he did.
Still, Roberts trusted the matchup and believed in Hernandez, who delivered a key two-run home run on a low changeup against Sale.
His home run made the difference.
Ohtani went down the order to fifth, his lowest since joining the Dodgers, and went 0-for-2 with a walk, though he looked better than in the first two games.
Roberts kept the faith in Andy Pages, and the center fielder rewarded Roberts with a 2-for-4 game, a real confidence booster.
The offense didn’t need to be great; it just needed to do enough, and it met that bar thanks to Roberts’ tweaks.
The bullpen calls
Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw 98 pitches through seven innings, and with the stakes and how well he pitched, Roberts could have made the typical overconfident managerial move of “trusting your guy.”
Yamamoto can throw 120+ pitches if needed, but Roberts resisted the temptation and called in Tanner Scott for the eighth inning.
Scott had a great regular season, bu the struggled towards the end. Still, Roberts rolled him out, and Scott delivered a scoring inning.
Then, in the ninth inning, Roberts went with Edwin Diaz, who had a four-digit ERA in the regular season. Over his last few outings, Diaz looked more mechanically in tune, and after an initial hard-hit double, the prized closer delivered three straight outs.
It was not the cleanest relief work, but Diaz and Scott both got a vote of confidence from their manager that bodes well for their future.
One Response
Roberts looked in total control, but more importantly, the players delivered. I’m still not sold on Ohtani being in the lineup. He backed out of the box on a couple called strikes. Not showing confidence. A poster on Dodger Nation mentioned that mental more than physical issues are his real demons. There may be some truth to that. Hopefully, he can overcome whatever it is and find himself again at the plate. He is a marvel to watch when firing on all pistons.