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Dodgers’ bullpen game goes sour in San Diego this time

MLB · June 11, 2025 · Comments off

SAN DIEGO — The Dodgers’ most effective pitcher Tuesday was Shohei Ohtani, who threw live batting practice in the afternoon – Matt Sauer threw it at night.

The matchup Tuesday night was a summer rerun of a fall blockbuster. The Dodgers essentially went with a bullpen game against the San Diego Padres. The Padres had right-hander Dylan Cease going. The same matchup in Game 4 of last fall’s National League Division Series turned the postseason around, starting the Dodgers’ record-tying run of scoreless innings (33) and vaulting them from the brink of elimination toward a World Series title.

Before this series began, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he thought the Padres would be looking for “redemption” for letting the NLDS get away from them. If that sour taste still lingers in San Diego, they at least enjoyed a Sauer paste, scoring nine times against the right-hander promoted from Triple-A for the occasion on their way to an 11-1 rout of the Dodgers.

The rout evened this three-game series and added a laugher to a rivalry usually played with scowls and gritted teeth. Padres fans who chanted the traditional “Beat LA” with less gusto as the tedious game wore on got their wish – but not their money’s worth.

“Well, we have a chance to win the series,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said afterward. “It’s where our staff is at right now, as far as who’s available, who’s not, who we can kind of push, who we can’t. And these are the starters we have, so we got to go with it and make the best.

“The goal was to come in here to win a series, and we got a really good chance to do that tomorrow.”

Sauer was tabbed to pitch bulk innings against the Padres and he did that, absorbing the damage for 4⅔ innings. But he also gave up bulk hits, 13 in all including three doubles (two to Luis Arraez), a triple (Jackson Merrill) and a home run (Martin Maldonado) while also walking three and hitting a batter.

“Every time I come and there’s an opener in front of me, I know that my job is just eat as many as I can,” Sauer said. “Obviously, today, I didn’t have as good of stuff, but I felt like I was just out there pitching my ass off, trying to compete and trying to eat as many innings as I could for the bullpen.

“I just left way too many pitches over the middle. They were able to get the bat to the ball, get some hits.”

He ate it alright, a 111-pitch big gulp that gave the entire bullpen (save Lou Trivino, who pitched the first inning) the night off. With Justin Wrobleski (who threw a career-high 104 pitches over six innings in his start five days ago),

Sauer’s night reached its expiration date in the third inning, when he walked Fernando Tatis Jr. with two outs then gave up three consecutive hits, including one of Arraez’s doubles and Merrill’s triple. But Sauer kept going until the Dodgers threw in the towel in the sixth inning. Roberts sent Kiké Hernandez to the mound to show off his pitching helmet, the fat lady singing even before “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

It was the earliest the Dodgers have put a position player on the mound in their L.A. history, and it was a decision Roberts called “very awkward – it doesn’t feel good.”

“It’s about, do you want to chase, and is it worth it, versus to win tomorrow,” Roberts said.

Sinking as slow as 46 mph, Hernandez covered the final 2⅓ innings, a career-high, but is still looking for his first career strikeout.

“You just got to look at where our ’pen is at and appreciating what we have the next couple days,” Roberts said, referring to a stretch of 23 games in 24 days in which the Dodgers are midway through as well as the fact that Wednesday’s starter, Justin Wrobleski (who threw a career-high 104 pitches over six innings in his start five days ago), could need some bullpen support.

“It wasn’t smart to chase and redline guys in the ’pen. I got to give credit to Matt, who pitched as much as he’s ever pitched and essentially took it for the team to try to stay away from other guys and give us a good chance to win a series. That’s what we came here to do and we’re in a position to do that.”

Cease had his own personal redemption to seek against the Dodgers. Sent out to start that Game 4 on three days of rest, the right-hander didn’t make it through two innings.

With the stakes considerably lower, Cease held the Dodgers scoreless for seven innings on Tuesday, allowing just three hits and striking out 11 (though he did also walk five).

“It’s a good fastball. He was mixing,” Roberts said, grudging in giving credit to Cease. “We had a couple chances early. But I think when the game got away, you could just see things flip.”

The Dodgers avoided the shutout with three hits and a walk in the eighth inning against Padres reliever David Morgan. Michael Conforto’s RBI single drove in their only run of the night.

MsThao

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