MILWAUKEE — The Dodgers left Milwaukee with a 2–0 lead because the starters sgrabbed the series by the throat and never let go. Blake Snell blanked them in Game 1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto finished what he started in Game 2. Dave Roberts explained why the plan has been to let the rotation carry the weight and how Yamamoto earned the ninth.
“Our strength is starting pitching,” Roberts said. “When you can have your most talented pitchers get the most outs, then you’re in a good spot. Right now all four of those guys are in a really good headspace. They’re sound physically. You feel good about those guys starting a game and pushing them, and they’re prepared for this.”
The manager was asked why he has ridden starters deeper than in past Octobers. “Each one of these guys is throwing the ball incredibly well,” he said. “There’s been things with the bullpen and trying to find the right spots, but it just goes to weighing out whoever’s behind them has to be a better option given where those guys are at. I believe in all of our pitchers. In each moment I have to evaluate how they’re throwing. The efficiency, the way they’re able to mix, and give hitters different looks.”
Yamamoto’s leap from last year to this one has been clear to Roberts. “I see a real confidence,” he said. “Last year there was a transition and in the postseason I didn’t give him a whole lot of leash. We had a really talented bullpen and we leaned on it. This year he has true confidence that the third time through at pitch 90 he’s the best option. That gives me confidence.”
Sending Yamamoto back out for the ninth was not a coin flip. “No, it wasn’t,” Roberts said. “It was a hitter-to-hitter thing. We had Vesia behind him, but with the way he was throwing I felt really good about him starting the ninth.”
There was a brief mound visit in the fifth that looked odd on television. “I didn’t know what was going on,” Roberts said. “Will thought there was a little confusion and didn’t know if there was something physically wrong, so they turned that into a mound visit.”
The most striking part of the night came on pitch one. “You give up the first pitch of the game for a homer and then you throw a complete game,” Roberts said. “He was in complete command the entire night. In the regular season there are good ones and bad ones, but right now our entire team is playing the best baseball we’ve played all year. The focus and concentration level is at the highest and we’re peaking at the right time.”
Roberts loved how Yamamoto flushed the early swing. “That’s who he is,” he said. “They take a lead and we don’t panic. We keep taking our at-bats and Yamamoto resets and manages the inning. I think he walked one tonight. It speaks to talent, but it also speaks to character. Whatever happens, it doesn’t faze us. Our guys are hungry.”
The message heading home was steady. “We’ve put ourselves in a good position, but those guys aren’t going to quit,” Roberts said. “They’re going to keep playing hard and we know that. We have to play our best baseball.”
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