The Dodgers have a chance to reset quickly Friday night after a rough finish to the series opener against the Brewers, and they’ll do it with one of their best arms on the mound.
Los Angeles fell 5-4 on Thursday when All-Star closer Edwin Díaz blew his third save in his last four appearances and his fourth save overall this season. Afterward, Dave Roberts didn’t hide from the broader picture.
“I know people don’t like to hear it, but it’s baseball,” manager Dave Roberts said after the game. “Offenses go in lulls, bullpens go in lulls.
Sometimes you get in a run where the starting pitching isn’t there. So it is what happens.
It just doesn’t feel good. It’s certainly more highlighted when the ‘pen doesn’t throw the baseball well, because it costs you games, typically.
But they’re all working hard. They’re all preparing.
“But yeah, at the end of the day, we all have to do our jobs. All of us.”
The loss also forced the Dodgers to lean on five relievers, which makes getting innings from the starter even more important as the four-game set continues. That job falls to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has been rolling since the All-Star break.
In four starts since then, Yamamoto has posted a 1.88 ERA over 28.2 innings. For the season, he’s at a 2.65 ERA with 127 strikeouts and 32 walks across 139.1 innings. He already handled Milwaukee once this year, giving up one run in seven innings in a 5-1 Dodgers win in May.
Milwaukee is sending left-hander Robert Gasser to the mound. He has a 4.57 ERA in 13 starts this season, but he’s looked sharper lately with a 3.05 ERA over four second-half outings, along with 18 strikeouts and four walks in 20.2 innings.
Los Angeles will also be without Freddie Freeman, who is out of the lineup Friday for a scheduled day off, according to Roberts. The timing comes after Freeman fell into the visitors’ dugout on Wednesday night, though Roberts said the absence is not tied to that play. Kiké Hernández will start at first base in Freeman’s place.
First pitch for Dodgers-Brewers is set for 7:10 p.m. PT/10:10 p.m.
ET on Friday, Aug. 14.
The game will air on SportsNet LA and in the MLB app, with radio coverage on AM570 in English and KTNQ 1020 AM in Spanish.
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