Dodgers News: Dave Roberts Reveals Trayce Thompson Was Unavailable in Wednesday’s Win

The Los Angeles Dodgers are coming off their wildest game of the season, a 10-6 win that ended with a walk-off grand slam from Max Muncy. 

The Dodgers trailed 5-0 early, but continued to chip their way back all game long. In the bottom of the 8th inning, with two on and two outs, the Dodgers brought in the right-handed Austin Barnes to pinch-hit for the lefty David Peralta to face LHP Jose Alvarado. While people understood the idea of taking out the lefty Peralta, it was shocking to see Barnes come in instead of the right-handed Trayce Thompson.

Barnes, who was 4-for-47 coming into the at-bat, came through with a two-out, two-run single to give the Dodgers the lead. However, it had everyone wondering about Thompson. He wasn’t even in the dugout, according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.

After the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts cleared things up. 

“Trayce has been ill,” Roberts said, “so he’s not been available for the last two days.”

That makes a lot more sense, as Thompson likely would have been Roberts’ choice in that spot. However, hopefully Roberts learns from this and sees that Barnes, despite his slow start, is probably a better option against a lefty than Thompson. 

Thompson is hitting (and I use that word lightly), .080/.207/.200 against lefties this season. He’s just 2-for-25 against lefties on the year, and one of those hits came against Madison Bumgarner in his first at-bat of the season. 

Hopefully Thompson feels better soon and can get back with the Dodgers. However, I don’t think he should ever be an option to pinch-hit against a lefty in a big spot. Barnes will always be the better decision.

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