Dave Roberts spent Tuesday night pushing the right buttons, and the Dodgers walked away with a Game 3 win because of it.
With the series pressure building and Los Angeles staring at a dangerous spot after dropping Game 2, Roberts didn’t just let the night play out on autopilot. He adjusted the lineup, leaned into matchups, and made sure the Dodgers weren’t simply repeating what had already gone wrong. That mattered against Chris Sale, who worked five innings and gave up seven hits and three runs while striking out seven.
The biggest offensive swing came when Roberts sent Kike Hernandez up to hit for Max Muncy. Muncy had already launched two home runs in the first two NLDS games, but Roberts chose the left-on-left swap against Sale anyway. Hernandez, who has one of the best postseason resumes of all time despite missing most of the year and struggling when he did play, came through with a two-run homer on a low changeup.
That blast changed the game.
Roberts also moved Shohei Ohtani down to fifth in the order, his lowest spot since joining the Dodgers. Ohtani finished 0-for-2 with a walk, though he looked better than he had in the first two games. Andy Pages stayed in the mix too, and Roberts’ patience paid off when Pages went 2-for-4.
The Dodgers didn’t need a perfect offensive night. They just needed enough, and the lineup tweaks helped them get there.
Roberts was just as deliberate with his bullpen usage. Yoshinobu Yamamoto went seven innings on 98 pitches, and even with the stakes and the way Yamamoto was dealing, Roberts didn’t try to squeeze extra out of him.
Instead, he turned to Tanner Scott for the eighth. Scott had a strong regular season but faded late, yet Roberts still trusted him with the inning, and Scott got through it without allowing a run.
In the ninth, Roberts went to Edwin Diaz, whose regular season ERA sat in the four digits. Diaz has looked more mechanically in tune in recent outings, and after giving up a hard-hit double to open the frame, he settled in and recorded three straight outs.
It wasn’t spotless relief work, but it was the kind of game where Roberts’ confidence in both Scott and Diaz mattered. And on a night like this, that was enough.
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For a Dodgers club trying to navigate October with as little disruption as possible, the timing is the real concern. If Rojas cannot continue in the series, Los Angeles may be forced to make a postseason roster change, a move that would test the teams infield depth at a point when every available defender matters even more. [Read more 🡒]
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De Paula got his debut in Game 2 and finished the night with a pop out in his final at-bat, a small snapshot of how quickly the stakes jump this time of year. Still, his first 11 major league games have gone well enough to reinforce why the Dodgers view him so highly, and why his presence on an October roster feels like more than a one-night curiosity. [Read more 🡒]