Dodgers Interview: Dave Roberts Discusses Disappointing Game 3 Loss
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers took one on the chin in Game 3. Philadelphia quieted the bats and broke the game open late. The series still tilts Los Angeles, though, and Dave Roberts sounded steady afterward. He acknowledged what went wrong, pointed to what comes next, and kept the focus simple.
“We had an early opportunity in that first situational at-bat,” Roberts told us after the game. “Then they went to Ranger [Suarez] after two innings.” He liked the quick answer from Tommy Edman in the third. “Tommy leads off and gets that first homer,” he said. “After that I just felt we couldn’t put anything together versus Ranger.” Roberts tipped his cap to the lefty. “The cutter, the sinker, the changeup mix,” he said. “We really didn’t threaten in any capacity and he threw the ball well tonight.”
The other side of the ledger featured the big bat that finally woke up. “You make mistakes, you pitch behind, that’s what’s going to happen,” Roberts said when asked about Kyle Schwarber. “You get to 2-0 and try to go fastball away, it gets to the big part of the plate, home run.” He added that the later blast came on a miss. “I think Clayton [Kershaw] tried to go away and missed middle or middle-up close to him and it’s another homer,” Roberts said. “You have to make pitches against those guys and work ahead.”
Tomorrow brings a reset, and the plan is clear. “Glass [Tyler Glasnow] will go tomorrow,” Roberts said. He is not treating it like a partial buildup, despite the long patch between starts. “I think he’s just full go,” he said. “It was nice to get him in there in Philly, but as far as his buildup, I think it’s a normal start. We’ll read and react and see how he’s throwing the baseball.”
Shohei Ohtani’s quiet night drew questions, and Roberts kept the diagnosis direct. “I think [facing] the lefties are part of it,” he said. “But I just think his decision-making at the plate hasn’t been good.” Roberts described what he is seeing in the zone. “You can see balls in off and he’s really not giving himself a chance to hit a mistake,” he said. “He’s in between a little bit, and the swing decisions are just not where they need to be right now.”
The bullpen usage had one notable absence, reliever Tanner Scott, who was not even at the stadium. “Tanner was not at the ballpark today,” Roberts said. “There was something going on personal, so he was completely unavailable.” One wonders if Scott’s unavailability forced Roberts into going further with Kershaw than he wanted to, since the only remaining plausible relievers at that point were Kershaw and the recently roughed-up Blake Treinen.
Kershaw worked out of relief and ran into traffic. “He just didn’t have a great slider tonight,” Roberts said. “Clayton pitches off his slider, and when the slider’s not there, depthy and teethy, and the fastball command is behind too, that’s tough.” The summary was concise. “The command wasn’t there tonight.”
Asked about the quick turnaround, Roberts did not linger on the loss. “It’s pretty close to being flushed already,” he said. “If we could look back at this going into the series and say we were up 2-1, we’d have banked it with Glass going.” He would have liked one more look at a power arm. “I would have loved to have gotten Duran in the game tonight,” he said. “But I feel good with where we’re at, and it’s certainly flushed.”
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