LOS ANGELES — Coming into the winter, the Dodgers’ fundamental focus — at the very least within the non-Shohei Ohtani class — was to improve the beginning rotation. They have been aggressive sufficient to land Tyler Glasnow by way of commerce and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and James Paxton by way of free company.
However even with the added emphasis on stocking up on as many starters as doable, the Dodgers all the time envisioned doing the occasional bullpen recreation, particularly early within the season whereas Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw recovered from accidents.
Bullpen video games aren’t uncommon for the Dodgers. It’s one thing they’ve achieved for greater than half a decade. The primary take a look at run of the 2024 season didn’t all the time look fairly, but it surely was nonetheless efficient sufficient to assist the Dodgers beat the Giants, 5-4, on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.
“We’re used to bullpen video games, we’ve achieved loads of them earlier than,” stated Dodgers nearer Evan Phillips. “I believe we take a variety of pleasure in making an attempt to place a bit extra emphasis on successful that recreation when it’s our job to go on the market and handle it.”
Offensively, Mookie Betts, Gavin Lux and Kiké Hernández led the cost for the Dodgers. Betts continued his unreal begin to the season, pounding his fifth homer in simply eight video games for the 1,five hundredth hit of his profession. Betts is placing collectively top-of-the-line stretches of his profession, giving the pitching employees loads of room to work with.
That was all notably necessary on Tuesday because the Dodgers went with a bullpen recreation in opposition to Giants ace Logan Webb.
With the Giants having right-handed hitters Matt Chapman and Jorge Soler close to the highest of their lineup, the Dodgers determined to start out Ryan Brasier to function the opener. Brasier excels in opposition to righties and was capable of get via the primary inning with out permitting a run.
“Brais, as a veteran reliever, to do the [second] opening of his profession, would not balk at that,” stated Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts. “These are issues that, there’s the buy-in. So for me, once you get expertise, you get the buy-in, then you’ll be able to kind of put the items to finest swimsuit them.”
Behind Brasier was left-hander Ryan Yarbrough, who is maybe the largest piece to the puzzle for the Dodgers each time they roll out a bullpen recreation. Yarbrough was the unique “bulk man” when the Rays started utilizing the opener in the course of the ’18 season and has expertise beginning video games and popping out of the bullpen to supply size.
Yarbrough’s function with the Dodgers this yr shall be much like what it was with the Rays. He’s essentially the most versatile arm within the bullpen. The left-hander struggled a bit, notably on the finish of his stint, however did precisely what was requested of him. He gave the Dodgers 4 1/3 innings of labor, permitting them to get deeper into the bullpen.
“I believe the largest factor from early on in my profession was, deal with it as a starter however you had a man are available in entrance of you, so that you knew you have been gonna throw a number of [innings],” Yarbrough stated. “I don’t know if I’ll have a direct reply about how it is going to be going ahead, however I believe it is going to be fairly fluid and based mostly off workload and the place we’re at.”
As soon as Yarbrough bumped into bother, the Dodgers turned to Alex Vesia, who was off to a different robust begin. Vesia, nonetheless, was capable of get Austin Slater and Patrick Bailey out to finish a giant risk within the sixth. Michael Grove, who may also give the Dodgers size out of the bullpen, then took over with 1 2/3 innings.
Lastly, the Dodgers gave the ball to nearer Phillips for the final 4 outs of the sport. Phillips shut the door, giving the Dodgers a blueprint of what these video games would possibly appear to be this season.
“You sort of sit tight a bit bit greater than it’s best to, and it’s a good feeling when you’ll be able to win a recreation like that,” Roberts stated. “We led a variety of that recreation, so I don’t wish to say steal it. To know that you simply’ve received [Tyler Glasnow] going tomorrow with an opportunity to win three in opposition to a division rival, it’s feeling proper now.”
