Dodgers Interview: Roberts acknowledges challenges of playing from behind
"We've got to stop spotting teams early leads."
LOS ANGELES — After the Dodgers’ 9–5 loss to the Diamondbacks on Monday night, manager Dave Roberts took a measured tone as he addressed the media. Despite another rough start from his pitching staff and a defense that faltered early, Roberts found signs of life—especially in the way his team battled back late.
“Certainly encouraged,” Roberts began. “I thought that fighting back the way we did, the at-bats, obviously Mookie really showing life tonight was huge.” Betts delivered two solo home runs, and Shohei Ohtani added another, helping to narrow a 7–0 deficit and giving the Dodgers some hope heading into the late innings.
Still, Roberts didn’t shy away from the reality that his team once again had to play from behind. “It’s hard to start games behind before you take an at-bat,” he said. “I think the last week we’ve given up runs in the first inning. We’ve got to throw up that zero and kind of get a chance to get the game going.”
The Diamondbacks scored twice in the first and five more in the third, capitalizing on both big swings and defensive miscues. Roberts acknowledged the defensive struggles, saying, “Given extra outs, things like that, for a team right now that just doesn’t strike out a lot of guys—when the ball’s in play, we’ve got to make plays that we need to make.”
He also emphasized the importance of basic pitching fundamentals that his current staff hasn’t consistently executed. “We’ve got to get strike one and keep the ball in the ballpark,” Roberts said. “We’re not doing that.”
One of the brighter spots was the performance of Landon Knack in long relief. After surrendering four runs in a disastrous third, Knack ended up going five full innings, helping preserve the bullpen for the rest of the series. “It was good to see Landon chew up five innings to kind of get to the next day,” Roberts said.
Still, as Roberts made clear: “It’s still a loss.”
The manager acknowledged that this is not the pitching staff they had envisioned coming into the season. “It’s not the staff we thought we’d have this season,” he admitted. “But I feel that kind of what we still do—and have done in the past with injuries—we’re not doing. And I say that in the sense of getting ahead of hitters and keeping the ball in the ballpark.”
The offense, he said, has mostly been carrying its weight: “I think the offense is going well, but with that, we still got to make sure our defense is tightened up to give the pitchers the best chance to have success when they do get that opportunity.”
One defensive lapse in particular stood out—a deflected fly ball in the first inning that led to an early Diamondbacks run. “He just lost it,” Roberts said of Hyeseong Kim. “I don’t know if it was twilight or what, he just lost it. And so that’s just—unfortunately that’s something that happened.”
Asked about the decision to play Kim in center field, Roberts explained, “Tommy [Edman] played center yesterday and the idea of trying to take care of his ankle—because when he gets top speed that’s what potentially could put him in harm’s way. So trying to take care of him on a back-to-back, he’ll be down tomorrow.”
When pressed on whether Kim should’ve communicated more clearly to Teoscar Hernández, who was converging on the deflected ball, Roberts acknowledged it was a teachable moment. “I think so,” he said. “I think that’s something where you haven’t played a whole bunch of center field. So I think right at that point in time he’s just trying to find the baseball and not really kind of letting the guys to the side know that he is having trouble. But that’s more experience and kind of an outlier play.”
Ultimately, Roberts is looking for his club to put together more complete performances as the team moves deeper into the season. “Getting to their bullpen a little bit, given we were down 7–0 early, I think that bodes well for the next couple games,” he said. “But we’ve got to stop spotting teams early leads. That’s got to change.”
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