He Dodgers He made a business decision on Sunday.
After two hard-fought, high-intensity wins to open this weekend’s crucial four-game series in Arizona, the team had a chance to In fact extend its lead in the National League West; to perhaps create a gap too insurmountable to waste in the final month of the season.
But they were also concerned about the worn-down state of their roster, a bullpen that had combined for 12 innings in those two wins, a lineup that has been working hard during a resurgent August that has seen them reassert their place atop the division standings.
That’s why even when Sunday’s crushing 14-3 defeat When things began to go wrong for the Diamondbacks at Chase Field, manager Dave Roberts did little to stop the disaster.
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He left rookie starter Justin Wrobleski on the mound to use him in a 5 ⅓-inning, 10-run implosion (eight of the runs scored in a seven-hit, 11-batter second inning).
He took out three of his best (and most used) star players: Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernandez — 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 thought and still do, the health of the player is the most important thing, and if that could be compromised, I would choose another option,” Roberts said before the match. “I just think that kind of mentality in general is the most beneficial for the player and the team. So I don’t think win or loss, or standings, is going to be a deciding factor in deciding who I’m going to use today.”
He certainly wasn’t lying.
This trip to the desert could still be a successful one for the Dodgers. They have already secured a split of the series and a lead of just four games in the NL West (at the end of Sunday’s game, they were five games ahead of the Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres).
But once Sunday’s game began to fall apart, they decided it was no longer salvageable.
Whether you agree or not, you tolerated what you hope will be only a small step back, betting that it will allow you to take bigger steps forward in the future.
“They put us in a tough spot today, and now we have to find a way to save the pitching,” Roberts said after the game. “I think the positive is that we’re back in top form for tomorrow and we have a chance to win the series.”
Even if the Dodgers (82-55) hadn’t blown away Sunday’s game early on, the hole Wrobleski left them with was probably too deep to overcome.
Making his sixth career start, the 24-year-old left-hander was outshone by the Diamondbacks (76-61) and their high-powered lineup in the second inning, struggling to control the ball early in counts or avoid hard contact once he fell behind.
Randal Grichuk led off the scoring with a double. Eugenio Suarez, Kevin Newman and Jose Herrera hit back-to-back singles with one out, making it 2-0. Geraldo Perdomo then hit a two-run double, opening a 4-0 lead for Arizona.
If there was ever a time for Roberts to contemplate a more aggressive strategy and consider turning to his tired bullpen to stop the bleeding, this was it.
However, as Roberts promised before the game, the bullpen did not move. The manager remained in his seat in front of the dugout.
Wrobleski was going to have to use it.
And he put it on.
After a Josh Bell single made it 5-0, Grichuk came back to the plate and hit a back-breaking, three-run homer into the right-center field balcony, easily clearing the 413-foot mark about 20 feet below.
As Wrobleski watched the ball fly, he hung his head as the hometown crowd at a packed matinee erupted around him.
“It sucks,” said Wrobleski, who Roberts said will be sent to another relief pitcher on Monday. “It’s part of being a starting pitcher. It’s part of pitching in this league. Obviously, it’s a tough league to pitch in. You just have to keep working hard.”
After Shohei Ohtani, Betts and Freeman struck out in consecutive at-bats over the next half-inning, the fate was clear.
When the Dodgers took the field in the bottom of the third inning, Freeman (who is still playing with a broken right middle finger), Betts (who has played in all 18 of the team’s games since returning from a broken hand) and Hernandez (who has played in a team-high 133 games this year) were left on the bench.
The Dodgers eventually scored three runs (Tommy Edman and Kevin Kiermaier hit RBI groundouts; Austin Barnes hit an RBI single), but that was small consolation in what became the Dodgers’ biggest loss of the season.
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Wrobleski’s 10 earned runs alone tied the most allowed by a Dodgers pitcher in club history in Los Angeles.
The Dodgers will have a chance at redemption on Monday afternoon.
The biggest acquisition of the trade deadline, Jack Flaherty, will take the mound after five days of rest. The bullpen will be as fresh as it has been in perhaps weeks (though that’s not saying much for a group that has made up for a lack of rotation length all year). The chance to win three of four games against an intra-divisional rival will still be within reach.
The Dodgers hope their roster decisions on Sunday will only help in that effort.
They made a business decision and now they have to wait and see if it ultimately pays off.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.