SAN DIEGO — It would be difficult to describe the Dodgers’ prospects entering Game 4 of the NLDS as anything other than bleak. San Diego took all the momentum in the series by winning Game 2 and carried it into their own building to win a crucial Game 3. After playing haymaker after haymaker the previous two games, the lights began to dim on this Los Angeles team.
To make matters worse, in a series where they lack quality starting pitching, it was their bullpen that went up against one of the league’s best starters, Dylan Cease, to determine if the Dodgers would have a chance to to try to extend their season at home in Game. 5 or watch their divisional rivals celebrate wrapping up.
But with their season on the line and their backs against the wall, something happened in San Diego on Wednesday: the Dodgers finally found their fight.
“We’re a bunch of grinders,” Mookie Betts said after his team’s 8-0 victory in Game 4. “We’re a bunch of fighters, and we knew this wasn’t going to be easy.”
It would have been easy for the Dodgers to quit after being punched in the mouth multiple times by a Padres team that has taken the fight to them since Game 1. To make matters worse – or rather, the other way around – first baseman Freddie Freeman was scratched 90 minutes before the first pitch, leaving LA’s lineup messy and without a keystone.
Still, the Dodgers had no excuse.
Through the first two games of this series, Betts’ struggles at the plate had become apparent. With an 0-for-22 postseason streak entering Game 3, you could tell things were starting to weigh on the Dodgers’ superstar. But his home run early in Game 3 may have been exactly the boost he and the Dodgers were waiting for.
In the first inning of Game 4, Betts got LA’s lineup going again, with a solo shot into the Padres’ bullpen, giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead they would not relinquish.
“I think I just had to see one fall and get a little bit of confidence,” Betts said after the match. “I know my team has done a great job of instilling confidence and trust in me.”
In this one, the Dodgers right fielder didn’t have to do all the heavy lifting. The Dodgers got multi-hit nights from Betts, Teoscar Hernandez, Gavin Lux and Kike Hernandez, with eight of their nine starters collecting hits in the game.
LA scored early and in bunches, adding two runs in the second inning, two runs in the third and three in the seventh to put the Padres away. The Dodgers had never had more than a three-run lead at any point in this series, but when they needed it most, the floodgates opened.
“When you go through a regular season, a lot of things are calculated, and there are a lot of variables because you’re playing for the longer term,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said afterward. “But when you get into the postseason, it’s a street fight. It’s about players, and your desire has to be bigger than just your opponent.
“And seeing our guys go through what they went through and seeing how they respond really gets me excited about Game 5.”
No matter the circumstances, the Dodgers’ offense is their best weapon and a formidable foe, but if this team wanted to force a Game 5 and continue to fight another day, they also needed a strong showing at the hill needed. this series. Playing a bullpen game in Game 4 probably wasn’t anyone’s first choice to save the team’s season, but it was what they had to do.
And not only did the “Johnny Wholestaff” approach work, but it also produced the best Dodgers pitching performance yet this postseason. Opener Ryan Brasier, Anthony Banda, Michael Kopech, Alex Vesia, Evan Phillips, Daniel Hudson, Blake Treinen and Landon Knack combined to throw nine scoreless innings, allowing seven hits and two walks en route to the first shutout of the postseason for the team. The Dodgers bullpen has now thrown twelve consecutive scoreless frames, including three, to end their Game 3 loss on Tuesday.
“They were fantastic,” said catcher Will Smith, who contributed a home run in the third. “Attacking the zone, sending guys away. And put up nine zeros, which is what we needed tonight. So full credit to those guys for keeping us in it.”
The herculean efforts of the Dodgers’ bullpen helped get them ready for Game 5 at Dodger Stadium. While Roberts has not announced the team’s plans for the winner-take-all game, LA will have both Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Jack Flaherty available, as well as a day off to rest the bullpen. The team hopes the extra day of rest will also allow Freeman to get back into the lineup with the season and a trip to the NLCS on the line.
The Dodgers have played a lot of postseason baseball in recent years, and their experience in high-pressure situations has given them the ability — as cliché as it is — to take it one game at a time. With this series tied and the momentum tilting in their favor as they return to LA, the Dodgers have a real chance to do what many thought they couldn’t.
“We knew what we were going to do,” Betts said. “We knew the challenge we had to face, but we all just enjoyed it.”
