BALTIMORE – When the Dodgers saw Tanner Scott last October, he was nearly unhittable.
In 4 ⅓ postseason innings for the San Diego Padres, Scott allowed just two hits and struck out seven of the 17 batters he faced. Shohei Ohtani was that strikeout victim four times in the National League Division Series.
That was the reliever the Dodgers hoped they were signing when they gave Scott a four-year, $72 million contract last winter. That has not been the reliever they have gotten for their money so far. Far from it.
“I think as far as physically, he is where he was last October. Performance-wise, not even close,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said recently. “And I think for Tanner, it’s the predictability of … where the pitches are at. I think just for me, getting hitters to be uncomfortable. When we were in October (last season), hitters were uncomfortable. And getting Tanner to make hitters feel more uncomfortable, whatever that looks like, that’s what needs to happen. And then I think at that point in time, we’ll start to see the results that we will see, and we saw last October.”
Roberts made that assessment of Scott earlier this week – before Scott gave up walk-off hits in back-to-back games.
It’s the Dodgers who Scott is making uncomfortable now with his three losses, eight blown saves and 4.56 ERA. Roberts acknowledged that Scott’s undependability will force him to think twice about what situations he puts Scott into.
“Yeah, I think so,” Roberts said. “I also live in a world of, ‘What’s the alternative?’ I just don’t feel that Edgardo Henriquez, for example, throwing 10 major league innings, is now the savior. … There’s a track record. There’s a trust, a confidence in a certain player, players that have earned it. There’s also giving guys opportunities to continue to earn opportunities and not think that they’re a savior when they’ve thrown 10 innings in the major leagues.
“That’s just an example and it’s not a knock on Edgardo because he’s throwing the heck out of the baseball.”
Scott is not alone among Dodgers relievers in struggling over the past month. The Dodgers’ bullpen had a 4.40 ERA in 30 games through Saturday.
“There’s a confidence thing right now that they’ve got to get over. That’s pretty much everyone included,” Roberts said. “So trying to figure out where the best place to put a guy – because the sixth inning in a tie ballgame with the top of the order could be a high-leverage situation. You’ve got to kind of figure out what constitutes leverage, high leverage, and also the alternative.”
Roberts acknowledged he is “searching for answers” when looking at how to arrange his current bullpen on his “trust tree.”
“These are the guys we signed off on, we believe in,” he said. “Not to say that you’ve got to have blind faith forever. I understand that. But they’ve got to – you’re talking about winning 11 games in October, getting there obviously, and guys that you can trust in that hot box of moments. There’s experience that certainly matters. It does. But talent and performance and the short-term and the recency matters too, it does.
“But I’m going to give these guys that have earned the opportunity and my trust, that they deserve my trust. I’m going to keep giving it to them until I don’t.”
NO REPLAY
Outfielder Andy Pages has been criticized – including on the Orioles television broadcast of the game – for not making more of an effort to rob Jackson Holliday of the home run that broke up Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s no-hitter Saturday night.
Pages was in right field after playing the first eight innings in center field. Justin Dean took over in center field as a defensive replacement in the ninth and Pages moved to right, replacing Teoscar Hernandez.
Holliday’s home run just cleared the fence, bouncing off the three- or four-foot platform in front of the seating area. Pages did not pursue it to the wall, backing off to play the ball on a bounce.
“You know what – quite honestly, I haven’t gone back and looked at it. I really haven’t,” Roberts said when asked about the effort. “So I don’t know how close (he could have gotten). But I’d like to think if there’s any chance to make a play on a no-hitter you would exhaust every effort. But I can’t say. I just refuse to go back and look at it.”
Both Pages and Hernandez were out of the lineup Sunday.
“I think for both guys – as you’ve seen the way they’re going the last however long – they need a day. They need a day,” Roberts said. “They need a day to sort of re-set, to watch a game, to not have the pressure whatever it is to perform. So I felt, sixth day (of the trip), day after night, it’s the perfect day for them to be down.”
Pages was 7 for his past 31 (.226) before Sunday. Hernandez’s slump has gone on longer. In 24 games before Sunday, he hit .193 (17 for 88) with a .567 OPS.
PITCHING PLAN
The Dodgers do not have a starting pitcher listed for Monday’s game at Dodger Stadium against the Colorado Rockies. But it could be Tyler Glasnow.
Glasnow was scratched from his scheduled start Friday and flew home to have his back examined and “nothing came of it,” as Roberts put it. Glasnow was throwing Saturday and Sunday.
“My expectation is it’ll be this next series when we get home. I’m just not sure if it’s tomorrow or Tuesday or what,” Roberts said of Glasnow’s next start. “He played catch yesterday, felt good. He’s gonna throw again today. So it could be tomorrow, it could be Tuesday, it could be Wednesday.”
Emmet Sheehan is currently scheduled to start Tuesday but could pitch on four days’ rest Monday. Blake Snell is scheduled to start Wednesday.
ALSO
Alex Vesia and Max Muncy are expected to be activated from the Injured List on Monday with Tommy Edman at some point during the three-game homestand, according to Roberts.
UP NEXT
Rockies (RHP Chase Dollander, 2-12, 6.77 ERA) at Dodgers (TBA), Monday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM