The Dodgers made a business decision Sunday.
After two hard-fought, high-intensity wins to open this weekend’s pivotal four-game series in Arizona, the team had a chance to really stretch its lead in the National League West; to perhaps build a gap too insurmountable to be squandered in the season’s final month.
However, they were also wary of the worn-out state of their roster. Of a bullpen that had combined for 12 innings in those two wins. Of a lineup that has been grinding through a resurgent August that’s seen them reaffirm their place atop the division standings.
That’s why, even as Sunday’s 14-3 blowout loss to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field began to slip off the rails, manager Dave Roberts did little to stop the train wreck.
He left rookie spot starter Justin Wrobleski on the mound to wear it in a 5 ⅓-inning, 10-run implosion (eight of the runs scored in a seven-hit, 11-batter second inning).
He pulled three of his best (and most heavily used) star players — Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández — in the third inning.
He effectively waved the white flag before the club had gone through the batting order even two full times.
“I think for me, as I’ve always felt, and still do feel, the player’s health is most important, and if that could be compromised at all, I will go with another option,” Roberts said pregame. “I just feel that kind of mindset overall is most beneficial for the player, the team. So I don’t think that the win-loss, the standings, will have any deciding factor on who I use today.”
He certainly wasn’t lying.
This can still be a successful desert trip for the Dodgers. They’ve already assured themselves of a series split and no worse than a four-game lead in the NL West (it stood at five games over both the Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres at the end of play Sunday).
But once Sunday’s game started to unravel, they decided it was beyond attempting to save.
Agree or disagree, they tolerated what they hope proves to be only one small step back, in a bet it will allow them to take bigger strides forward in the future.
“We got put into a tough spot today, then you’re just trying to find a way to salvage pitching,” Roberts said after the game. “I think the positive is we’re back to full strength for tomorrow with a chance to win the series.”
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani reacts after striking out in the third inning Sunday against Arizona.
(Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)
Even if the Dodgers (82-55) hadn’t punted on Sunday’s game early on, the hole Wrobleski left them was likely too deep to overcome.
Making his sixth career start, the 24-year-old left-hander was jumped by the Diamondbacks (76-61) and their high-powered lineup in the second inning, struggling to command the ball early in counts or avoid hard contact once he fell behind.
Randal Grichuk led off with a double. Eugenio Suárez, Kevin Newman and Jose Herrera strung together consecutive one-out singles, making it 2-0. Then Geraldo Perdomo pounded a two-run double, opening up a 4-0 Arizona lead.
If there was ever a moment for Roberts to contemplate a more aggressive strategy, and consider turning to his weary bullpen to stop the bleeding, it was then.
However, just as Roberts promised pregame, the bullpen didn’t stir. The manager stayed in his seat at the front of the dugout.
Wrobleski was going to have to wear it.
And wear it, he did.
After a Josh Bell single made it 5-0, Grichuk returned to the plate and clobbered a three-run, back-breaking homer to the balcony in right-center field, easily clearing the 413-foot marker some 20 feet below.
As Wrobleski watched the ball sail out, he hung his head while the hometown portions of a packed matinee crowd erupted around him.
“It sucks,” said Wrobleski, who Roberts said will be optioned Monday for another relief arm. “It’s part of being a starting pitcher. It’s part of pitching in this league. It’s a hard league to pitch in obviously. Just kind of keep grinding.”
After Shohei Ohtani, Betts and Freeman struck out in consecutive at-bats the following half-inning, the writing was plastered on the wall.
When the Dodgers took the field in the bottom of the third, Freeman (who is still playing with a fractured right middle finger), Betts (who played in all 18 of the team’s games since returning from a broken hand) and Hernández (who has played a team-high 133 games this year) stayed on the bench.
The Dodgers eventually scratched across three runs (Tommy Edman and Kevin Kiermaier had RBI grounders; Austin Barnes hit an RBI single). But that was little consolation in what became the Dodgers’ most lopsided loss of the season.
Wrobleski’s 10 earned runs alone matched the most allowed by a Dodgers pitcher in the club’s Los Angeles history.
The Dodgers will have a chance for redemption Monday afternoon.
Top trade deadline acquisition Jack Flaherty will take the mound coming off five days of rest. The bullpen will be as fresh as it’s been in perhaps weeks (though that’s not saying much for a group that has compensated for a lack of length from the rotation all year). The chance to take three of four games from an intradivision rival will still be well within reach.
The Dodgers will hope their roster decisions Sunday only aid that effort.
They made a business decision, and now have to wait and see if it ultimately pays off.