The sixth inning of Game 1 of the World Series must have felt like an all-too-familiar scenario for Los Angeles Dodgers fans.
After a season’s worth of bullpen meltdowns, the Dodgers relievers blew up at the worst possible time in the Toronto Blue Jays‘ nine-run sixth inning in their 11-4 win Friday at Rogers Centre.
The Blue Jays took a 1-0 edge in the best-of-7 series, with Game 2 on Saturday also in Toronto.
Blake Snell took the loss, after he allowed five runs and eight hits while walking three in 5+ innings. But the duo of Emmett Sheehan and Anthony Banda only got one more out (3) than home runs allowed (2), including Addison Barger’s game-breaking, pinch-hit grand slam off Banda.
The Dodgers Couldn’t Mask Their Bullpen Struggles In Game 1
The Dodgers starting rotation is, frankly, disgusting, with the four-headed monster of Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani, that nearly singlehandedly pitching them past the Milwaukee Brewers in a sweep in the NLCS.
Throw in Roki Sasaki, a converted starting pitcher who has a 1.13 ERA and three saves in eight innings this postseason, and Dave Roberts’ preferred formula may not involve a traditional reliever at all some nights — especially since LA was tied for 21st in bullpen ERA during the regular season (4.27).
But the Blue Jays did their best to upset that plan Friday by making Snell look like the slogging,
inefficient starter he was for much of his time with the Tampa Bay Rays.
“Blake just didn’t have good fastball command tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “When he had good count leverage, he couldn’t put hitters away because they put the ball in play.”
Even though the Dodgers gave Snell a 2-0 lead, he pitched with runners on base all night, accruing 100 pitches — after throwing 103 over eight innings in his Game 1 performance in the NLCS, He exited with the bases loaded and none out in a tie game in the sixth after hitting Daulton Varsho on a 3-2 pitch.
But with the game hanging in the balance — LA, after all, had just nine outs left in Game 1 — Roberts went to Sheehan, another converted starter, rather than a reliever like Banda, Blake Treinen, Justin Wrobleski or Jack Dreyer.
Sheehan didn’t fool anyone. Ernie Clement’s go-ahead RBI single had an xBA of .580, then he walked Nathan Lukes and served up a 102.4 mph single — with an xBA of .750 — that put the Jays ahead 5-2.
“We just didn’t make pitches when we needed to to keep that game close,” Roberts said.
The Dodgers Are Missing Alex Vesia
It needs to be prefaced that whatever Alex Vesia is going through seems to be bigger than baseball. We sincerely hope he takes all the time he needs to get right from the “deeply personal matter” that is keeping him away from the Dodgers for the World Series.
But Vesia’s absence has already loomed large in this series. Nothing against Banda, who also has been a high-leverage reliever all year, but Vesia has been the option that can get both righties and lefties out all year.
So when Banda entered and served up the no-doubt, 423-foot grand slam on a 2-1 pitch, one could only wonder if the same result would have happened if Vesia — who allowed just two home runs and a .498 OPS to lefties this year — were in the game.
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