SEATTLE — October is in the air.
Kike’ Hernandez has flipped the calendar a little early. A .206 hitter this season, Hernandez becomes a different hitter when the leaves turn. He has gone 5 for 13 over his past three games, including a two-run home run Friday night and a pair of doubles Saturday. The second double came in the ninth inning and broke a tie, sending the Dodgers to a 5-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
Also making a fall transformation – the Dodgers hope and pray – is the bullpen. Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia and Edgardo Henriquez closed out Saturday’s win by striking out the final nine Mariners hitters.
“It’s nice to smile after a game, I can say that,” said Treinen, who took five losses in his previous nine appearances.
“I think we’re just obviously getting closer to the playoffs. You can kind of feel these last two weeks – albeit not always smooth – the intensity has ramped up. … It just seems like all of us, myself included, are just a little more focused. I don’t know how to explain it. Not that there was a lack of focus before but maybe just another added sense of intensity.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has seen that team-wide.
“I think that we’ve done nothing but talk about the postseason here this last few weeks,” Roberts said. “To see guys, certain guys respond the way they have, that’s telling. It just continues to build my trust in them, and you look at this last few days, there’s a lot of guys.
“This trust tree’s growing, and that’s a good thing for all of us. Just creates options. And at the end of the day, nothing they’ve done matters outside of the recency and the confidence that they have going into the postseason. It’s been a really good few days.”
The Dodgers also moved a step closer to knowing who they will host on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium. If the Cincinnati Reds win their regular-season finale Sunday (in Milwaukee), they will travel to Los Angeles for the best-of-three Wild Card Series. If the Reds lose and the New York Mets lose, the Reds have the tiebreaker advantage and will still be headed west. Only if they lose and the Mets win (in Miami) would the Mets claim the final wild-card spot and a date with the Dodgers.
Shohei Ohtani was not in the Dodgers’ lineup Saturday for only the fourth time in 161 games.
Instead, Ohtani put in his work before the game, throwing a bullpen session. Roberts has declined to name a starting pitcher for the opener of the Wild Card Series – but Ohtani throwing a bullpen session on Saturday is consistent with him making a pitching start three days later.
“Today was a spa day for him,” Roberts said. “He could have done whatever he wanted today.”
Saturday’s starter, Tyler Glasnow, was limited to just three innings, keeping open the possibility – “pretty likely,” Roberts said – that he could be on the roster for the Wild Card Series and pitch in relief.
“If you boil it down, pitching is pitching,” Glasnow said of pitching in relief. “Just try to go out there and treat it like another inning. Maybe have a little bit more adrenaline. But I’m looking forward to it.”
Glasnow was followed Saturday by left-hander Andrew Heaney, promoted from Triple-A Oklahoma City for the purposes of soaking up the extra innings. The former Angel and now two-time Dodger was released by the Pittsburgh Pirates in August and signed by the Dodgers. He gave up a three-run home run to Jorge Polanco in the fifth inning (after Dalton Rushing’s two-run home run had given the Dodgers a brief lead).
The Dodgers tied it in the top of the seventh, then took the lead on Hernandez’s double in the top of the ninth as the bullpen piled up the strikeouts.
“I’m kind of an eternal optimist with my belief in the guys,” Roberts said. “You’ve got to kind of take the long view with some of these guys. But it’s arrived. I think that positionally, our at-bat quality with certain guys has really ramped up, Kiké being one of them. The pitching, the starting pitching, has been fantastic for the last couple months.
“Then now you see guys playing, competing for an opportunity to be on the postseason roster and also potentially getting innings. I like that fight and they’re leaving it all out there. That’s all I ask. And not be afraid to fail. Leave everything you have out there on the field.”
Treinen and company could have some help on the right side of the Dodgers’ bullpen this week. Roberts said right-hander Ben Casparius will join the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Monday. Casparius is under consideration for the Wild Card Series roster, depending on which team the Dodgers match up against.
“In years past, I’ve always believed any time anybody gets on a run, it’s because you’ve had a couple things go your way and you’re executing. That success breeds confidence, which breeds more success and you just ride it as long as you can,” Treinen said. “And if this is step one for us, then great. I honestly feel we’ve been pitching and competing really well lately. But as a collective group, this one was pretty awesome.”
UP NEXT
Dodgers (LHP Clayton Kershaw, 10-2, 3.55 ERA) at Mariners (RHP Bryce Miller 4-5, 5.53 ERA), Sunday, 12:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM