LOS ANGELES — Emmet Sheehan needed to wait a bit to listen to his quantity known as, however the 25-year-old right-hander rose to the event.
Sheehan was in line to begin Monday’s sequence opener towards the Phillies at Dodger Stadium on Monday, however Anthony Banda was penciled in because the opener with Sheehan anticipated to pitch the majority of the innings. It was a transfer that was each matchup-based — the Phillies’ prime three hitters Harrison Bader, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper are all lefties — and a approach for supervisor Dave Roberts to get a take a look at how Sheehan seems in aid because the Dodgers method October.
“Emmet’s a man that’s simply unfazed by something,” Roberts mentioned after the Dodgers’ 6-5 loss in further innings. “He’s in an ideal spot for a young-ish participant. He’s very mature and really assured.”
Instantly upon coming into the sport with one out within the prime of the primary after Banda gave up a house run and a stroll, Sheehan labored a six-pitch strikeout of J.T. Realmuto and induced a groundout to get out of the opening body.
Sheehan saved it going. He pitched 5 2/3 hitless innings with seven strikeouts and three walks because the Dodgers raced out to a 3-1 lead behind a Max Muncy house run and a pair of sac flies from Mookie Betts. Sheehan pitched into the seventh inning and seemed primed to surpass his career-high pitch depend of 96 (vs. the Reds on Aug. 25), however was pulled after permitting a leadoff double from Otto Kemp — the primary and solely hit of Sheehan’s outing.
When Sheehan left the sport, the Dodgers had a two-run lead, albeit with a runner in scoring place. It didn’t take lengthy for issues to collapse after that, because the Phillies broke by for 3 runs to take the lead.
Jack Dreyer, who entered the sport instead of Sheehan, compelled a groundout earlier than giving up an RBI single. Within the subsequent at-bat, he missed on back-to-back sliders above the zone to Weston Wilson.
Dreyer overcorrected with a fastball down the center that Wilson despatched 417 toes to heart discipline for a two-run homer to push the Phillies forward.
Betts responded with a solo house run to tie the sport within the backside half of the inning, however Harper led off the highest of the eighth with a solo shot of his personal earlier than Andy Pages compelled further innings by sending a knuckle curve from Phillies nearer Jhoan Duran into the again of the Dodgers’ bullpen.
After all of the fireworks, although, the Phillies scored the profitable run on a sac fly from J.T. Realmuto within the prime of the tenth. The Dodgers left the bases loaded within the backside half of the inning, permitting Philadelphia to clinch the NL East. The bullpen gave up 5 complete runs, 4 earned.
Would Roberts do something in another way in hindsight?
“I nonetheless like the fellows that we had on them,” Roberts mentioned. “… I feel we’re speaking about guys that had been rested, able to go. I had the fellows I needed on them. That doesn’t all the time work out.”
It wasn’t a complete flop from the ’pen. Schwarber’s first-inning house run off Banda was on a slider utterly off the plate that took a one-handed swing for him to achieve. Alex Vesia threw a fastball above the zone that Harper simply put an excellent swing on.
“It is actually onerous to criticize them for making these pitches,” Muncy mentioned. “Simply actually good hitters discovered a strategy to deal with them. It is irritating simply from a group perspective, however they’ve completed an ideal job for us all yr and they are going to hold doing an ideal job.”
It’s, nonetheless, a part of a rising pattern.
In high-leverage conditions for the reason that All-Star break, Dodgers relievers entered Monday with an 8.68 ERA, twenty eighth in baseball, forward of solely Atlanta and Minnesota. In September, their high-leverage arms have a mixed ERA of 14.40 — second worst within the massive leagues.
The Dodgers are actually 5 1/2 video games again of the Phillies for the No. 2 seed within the Nationwide League, which they would want to ensure that a bye within the Wild Card Sequence spherical. Their lead over the Padres within the NL West slipped to 2 video games, with every membership having 12 left to play.
The bullpen was key in getting the Dodgers to the World Sequence a yr in the past. Now, with October quick approaching, Roberts has to determine who he can belief essentially the most within the greatest spots.
“It’s simply attempting to see which guys step up with alternatives,” Roberts mentioned. “I believed Tanner [Scott], for instance, the final two outings have been superb. That’s actually good to see. So, simply attempting to determine who’s going to grab the chance.”
