Grit and Guts in the Tenth: Dave Roberts on a Much-Needed Win

LOS ANGELES — After a brutal weekend of missed opportunities and exhausted arms, the Dodgers needed more than just a win Tuesday night at Chavez Ravine—they needed a lifeline. What they got instead was a thrilling, hard-fought 4–3 comeback win in 10 innings over the Arizona Diamondbacks that reminded everyone what this team is made of.

It all started with Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The 25-year-old right-hander delivered his best start of the season and perhaps his most important as a Dodger. “Yoshi was fantastic,” manager Dave Roberts said postgame. “We needed every bit of it. Certainly we pushed him more than we have all year and he earned that opportunity. I thought tonight he was just getting ahead of hitters all night long. The split, the curveball really came into play.”

Yamamoto went seven scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out nine with two walks. But than the line, though, it was the moment. Roberts trusted him to navigate the seventh with over 100 pitches, a sign of how much the team is leaning on him. “He wanted that last hitter,” Roberts said. “I just felt right there at that moment, he was our best option… He proved all of us right.”

For most of the night, it looked like Yamamoto’s gem might go to waste. The Dodgers had good swings early, but couldn’t break through. “I thought early we swung the bats well—didn’t get anything to show for it,” Roberts noted. And then, after Yamamoto exited, it all unraveled. Tanner Scott gave up a game tying homer in the ninth and then a two-run shot to Corbin Carroll in the tenth—belt-high heat at 98 mph that Carroll didn’t miss. Suddenly, L.A. was staring down a 3–1 hole in the bottom of the tenth with a depleted bullpen and no margin left.

But that’s when the fight kicked in.

Tommy Edman, on a scheduled off day, came off the bench and sparked the rally. “Tommy putting together a really nice late-game hit on an off day… that played a role,” Roberts said. The Dodgers drew a couple of free passes, got some timely contact, and clawed their way back to tie the game. “It was just good to see after going down two runs in that ninth inning to come back,” Roberts said. “Just kind of obviously passing the baton.”

Then came the tenth. With Teoscar Hernandez as the automatic runner at second, the Dodgers had to make a move. “We really don’t have any pitching left,” Roberts admitted. “So we got to play for the win there.” They tied it up, and Max Muncy came through with the biggest swing of the night—a walk-off sacrifice fly to center that salvaged not just the game, but the team’s bruised morale. “Ultimately Max to drive in the winning run was big for all of us,” Roberts said.

The bullpen did just enough. Anthony Banda, pitching for the third time in four days, covered the final one out and picked up the win. “I give Anthony a lot of credit,” Roberts said. “Two innings two days ago and to take the baseball… was huge.”

It wasn’t just the physical toll this week has taken—it’s the emotional one. Roberts admitted as much. “You sit there in the ninth inning… and your bullpen is completely taxed… those ones really stink,” he said. “To get a win tonight, I’m going to sleep a lot better.”

Roberts called Yamamoto “an ace” before the game—and then doubled down after. “I use that word very carefully… because there’s a lot that comes with that,” he said. “There’s the ability to go deep in games when you need it… to be a top-end guy. There’s very few of those in the big leagues.”

The Dodgers are still patching together their bullpen day by day. Roles are shifting on the fly. Roberts praised Ben Harris, who continues to step up in big moments. “We’re obviously putting him in a lot of high-leverage spots, and he’s answered every opportunity the right way… his role needed to change and he’s now just a high-leverage guy.”

Monday’s game won’t be remembered as a clean win—but maybe that’s the point. It was gritty, hard-earned, and necessary.

“This was dire—more dire because we just didn’t have much behind,” Roberts said. “We just put some at-bats together, man. And it was much needed tonight.”

And on a night when they should have won, then had no business winning, the Dodgers found a way. That’s the kind of fight that can turn a season.

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