But they did bolster their roster’s depth.
“One through 26,” manager Dave Roberts said Friday afternoon, “this is the deepest we’ve been.”
In a 10-5 defeat of the San Diego Padres on Friday night, the Dodgers showed exactly what he meant.
The team called upon five pitchers in its fourth consecutive win, digging deep into its replenished bullpen after an abbreviated start from rookie Bobby Miller.
It overcame the absence of two of its best bats — Max Muncy (out with a wrist contusion) and J.D. Martinez (who only pinch-hit while nursing a groin injury) — by having all nine starters, plus Martinez in his pinch-hit reach base safely.
The power of the Dodgers’ new platoon-heavy, option-rich game plan was on display in the eighth, when they churned out five runs to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 7-3 lead.
And while major questions remain regarding the top of their rotation, the consistency of their lineup, and exactly how it might all hold up in the pressure of a postseason environment, Friday at least provided an auspicious blueprint — showing how the quantity of options can sometimes be as valuable as the quality of them, too.
“It’s grown a considerable amount,” Roberts said of his team’s post-deadline roster versatility. “From the rest part of it to the matchup part of it, it’s just very beneficial.”
(Gregory Bull / Associated Press)
The Dodgers needed all of it Friday.
Without Muncy or Martinez as their typical cleanup hitter, outfielder David Peralta was thrust into the No. 4 spot.
The outcome: Peralta hit a ground-rule double in the seventh, leading to one of only two runs the Dodgers (63-45) managed against Padres starter Yu Darvish. Peralta provided the big blow in the five-run eighth, lining a game-tying double down the left-field line against hard-throwing set-up man Robert Suarez. Then he tacked on an insurance run with a sacrifice fly in the ninth, finishing the night two for four with an RBI.
Another left-handed platoon bat, James Outman, also came up big.
After robbing Fernando Tatis Jr. of a two-run homer in the first, the rookie center fielder hit a solo blast in the second to open the scoring, then drove Peralta in with a cue-shot single in the seventh, trimming a two-run lead for the Padres (54-56) in half.
The Dodgers’ two new bats contributed, as well.
Kiké Hernández led off the eighth with a single. Then, after Chris Taylor and Martinez drew bases-loaded walks to put the Dodgers ahead, Amed Rosario lined a two-run single into right field, opening a four-run lead the club wouldn’t relinquish.
The Dodgers’ bullpen offered more encouraging signs.
Despite getting just 3 ⅔ innings out of Miller — who gave up only two runs (one earned) but yielded seven baserunners in a high-stress 82-pitch outing — the relief corps gave up just three runs over the final five innings.
Joe Kelly, a deadline acquisition, struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. and started a 1-4-3 double play to get through the fifth. Ryan Brasier, a midseason minor-league signing who has flourished in recent weeks, was credited with the win after a scoreless seventh inning.