HOUSTON — Like one sibling acting out when the other is getting too much attention, the Dodgers’ bullpen is starting to steal the spotlight from the starting rotation.
The relievers blew a five-run lead – sound familiar? – as the Houston Astros came back with seven runs in their final four turns at bat, beating the Dodgers 7-6 when Alex Bregman led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a walkoff home run off Blake Treinen Saturday night.
It was the first time the Dodgers had blown a five-run lead and lost – since the last day before the All-Star break. That was the second of back-to-back walkoff losses as an overextended bullpen stumbled to the break.
With the injury issues they have had with their starting pitchers and the gentle hand they have tried to use with the callow rookies used to patch the rotation, the Dodgers have leaned on their bullpen and they are paying the cost.
“It is. It absolutely is,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts agreed. “We’re still in first place. You still have to win games and you can look back at each game and say ‘Could the starter have gone longer to save an inning here and there?’ But the bottom line is we’re in first place and you have to win games somehow.
“But the rubber does hit the road at some point and when guys are taxed – when you’re using them, it is a cost. Absolutely.”
The Dodgers have used their relievers more than all but three teams in baseball (the Brewers, Giants and Marlins) — an average of 3.9 innings per game — while their starters rank 25th in innings pitched.
The last time the Dodgers escaped a game without a reliever allowing at least one run was July 12 in Detroit. In the 10 games since, the bullpen has a 6.41 ERA.
“They’re stressed,” Roberts acknowledged in an understatement.
“It’s tough. And you also have young starters that you’re trying to get their feet under them in the big leagues. When you look at the young guys that we have, I think we’ve done a good job of, you can say protecting them, keeping them strong. Minor-league innings are much different than major league-innings so the stress on the arms and the innings are not all created equal. That’s just the facts. We have to get these guys to continue to gain confidence so they can handle big spots.”
Another missile-launch home run by Shohei Ohtani (who also scored two runs and drove in two) helped build a 5-0 lead through five innings.
Ohtani’s 32nd home run of the season came in the third inning off Astros starter Ronel Blanco. It left the bat at 118.7 mph and traveled an estimated 443 feet – which did not seem to do justice to a drive that entered earth orbit just to the right of the scoreboard in straightaway right field.
“I think probably out of all the home runs I’ve hit, the one I hit today felt really good in terms of the angle, the distance, the way it came off the bat,” Ohtani said through his interpreter.
Rookie left-hander Justin Wrobleski was making his fourth career start. He allowed just two singles and a walk in the first five innings. None of the baserunners advanced beyond first.
Roberts trusted Wrobleski enough to send him out for a sixth inning for the first time. Wrobleski gave up back-to-back singles to Chas McCormick and Jose Altuve to start the inning and Roberts trusted Wrobleski enough to let him face Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez.
Wrobleski got Bregman to hit a soft ground ball up the middle for a forceout. It was hit too softly to turn a double play. And he got Alvarez to line out to Teoscar Hernandez in left field, the runner at third base holding.
Wrobleski turned back to the mound and was rubbing up the ball to attack the next hitter, right-hander Yainer Diaz — until he saw Roberts headed his way.
“Obviously, as a starting pitcher, I love to stay in the game,” Wrobleski said, after a small laugh. “But at the end of the day, my job is to go out there and throw the ball until Dave takes it from me. Obviously, anybody with a competitive bone in their body wants to stay in the game, especially in a big moment like that, with the crowd yelling at you. It was a lot of fun. But yeah, my job is to go out there and throw the ball until Dave takes it from me.”
Roberts went to a struggling Evan Phillips to face Diaz and the Dodgers’ five-run lead started melting away.
“Starting that inning I thought about Evan at Diaz,” Roberts said. “It was the first time (Wrobleski) had gone into the sixth inning in his big-league career. It was his fourth start. He pitched his tail off. There wasn’t a whole lot of swing and miss tonight so I just felt Diaz had good at-bats and it was just a good opportunity, I felt, to get Evan in the game to put the fire out and if it was going to be one more hitter anyway to end on a good note and finish out the game with a five-run lead.
“Obviously it didn’t work.”
It might have if Phillips was still himself. But he gave up seven runs on seven hits and three walks in 3 ⅔ innings over his previous five appearances. Saturday was not the day it started to turn around for him.
The Astros closed the gap with four consecutive hits off Phillips who did not retire a batter before Roberts pulled him from the game. They were not all that well struck – Diaz’s single left the bat at 94.7 mph the next three at 65.5, 67.2 and 81.8. But the result was a one-run lead, 5-4.
“They put good swings on what I thought were pretty good pitches,” Phillips said. “That kind of spot, I can execute well until the end of the day but I need to get guys out. That’s kind of the position I’m in right now. I feel like if I do my job there it sets us up better to finish the game in an easier manner. So really frustrating not to get the job done in that kind of spot.”
It forced Roberts to go off script with the rest of his bullpen choices.
Anthony Banda got Jon Singleton on a fly out to stop the bleeding then retired the side in the seventh after Cavan Biggio had given him extra cushion with a solo home run in the top of the inning (with his father, Astros legend Craig Biggio, watching in the stands).
It wasn’t enough. Daniel Hudson gave it up in the eighth inning starting with a one-out triple that rattled off the odd outfield walls at Minute Maid Park and away from center fielder James Outman.
An infield single by Jeremy Pena drove him in. A walk and a wild pitch set up Jon Singleton to drive in the tying run with a single through the right side. The Astros loaded the bases against Hudson before Treinen came in and struck out Altuve to escape with the game tied.
That tie disappeared above the Crawford Boxes in left field just two pitches into the bottom of the ninth.
“There were several close games that we dropped,” Ohtani said. “I think we just have to hold down the fort and the guys that are on the Injured List should be coming back soon. Looking forward to that.”
