Dodgers Interview: Rushing Shoulders Some of the Blame for Bullpen Struggles

LOS ANGELES — Catcher Dalton Rushing walked into the locker room with the measured tone of someone who’d just piloted a near-flawless start — and then watched it slip in a single inning. His read on Emmet Sheehan was as simple as it was telling: the plan worked, and it got better as the game went on.

“I think his stuff progressively got better as we got deeper and deeper in the game,” Rushing told me. “It allowed us to go back to the plan of how his stuff works. First inning we had to navigate a little — it wasn’t as sharp — but we’ve seen it before, so there was no panic. He got through the first, and from the second on he was cruising.”

That arc matched the box score. After a couple of early navigational hiccups, Sheehan locked in with tempo and finish, punching out 10 and allowing just one hit over seven scoreless. Rushing’s framing of the day — trust the blueprint, adjust early, then lean on what plays — is exactly what you want to hear from the catcher who’s steering pitch selection and pace.

The tough part of the conversation came when it shifted to the eighth. Blake Treinen, normally a late-inning fire extinguisher, got nicked by an infield single, a clean single, and then the game-tying ground-rule double before a bases-loaded walk pushed home the go-ahead run. Rushing didn’t duck it.

“I think the easiest answer is just strike one,” he said. “Everyone knows how good Blake is. Everyone saw what he did last year throughout the regular season, even leading into the postseason. He’s special; he’s got special stuff. So yeah, that one hurts a little bit — I feel like I didn’t do a good enough job navigating. We got in a tough situation trying to fill up the zone early, and I think the main message moving forward is: let’s get strike one and let your stuff play its best.”

It’s accountability without theatrics. “Strike one” isn’t cliché here — it’s the lever that turns Treinen’s sinker/cutter profile into chase and weak contact, and it’s the fulcrum for how the Dodgers want to play October baseball: win the leverage counts, let elite stuff dictate.

Asked about the other dugout, Rushing gave rookie Trevor McDonald his due. “McDonald had a good start. He had his stuff. He was on both sides of the plate with all pitches,” he said. “When a pitcher does that, you’ve got to tip your cap to an extent. We’re a good enough team — I think we can still throw up runs against a guy like that. That’s what we’re going to see in the postseason. That’s what we’re going to see moving forward from here on. He had a good one today. Sometimes you tip your cap.”

But he didn’t leave it there. The catcher’s lens turned back on the Dodgers’ own chances. “I think we had some opportunities later in the game to push some runs across and we didn’t capitalize,” Rushing said.

That tracks with what happened in the seventh: after Max Muncy’s walk and Andy Pages’ single, Michael Conforto punched the game’s first run to left. Then came the knife twist — Miguel Rojas’ textbook sacrifice set up second and third, nobody out, only for Tommy Edman’s smoked liner to be snatched by a diving Bryce Eldridge, who doubled off Pages at third. In the eighth, a leadoff single from Rushing hinted at a counterpunch, but the Dodgers couldn’t move him.

Between the lines of Rushing’s answers is the battery’s blueprint for the stretch run:

• Stick to the identity with the starter. Early navigation, then return to the strengths. His description of Sheehan — plan first, tempo second, feel third — is repeatable in October.
• Get the first strike with the leverage relievers. The eighth-inning spiral started when count leverage flipped; Rushing’s “strike one” refrain is less slogan than system check.
• Cash the thin windows. “We didn’t capitalize” isn’t hand-wringing; it’s the reality of playoff-style games where a single defensive gem (Eldridge’s catch) changes the math.

Rushing’s best moment might have been the quietest: taking ownership for the frame that got away without undercutting his pitcher. He defended Treinen’s pedigree — “He’s special” — while still naming the adjustment. He tipped his cap to McDonald while insisting the Dodgers must beat outings like that because those are the ones October serves nightly.

For a rookie catcher settling into the rhythms of a pennant race, that’s exactly the tone you want: respect the opponent, protect your guy, own your part, and move the conversation toward actionable fixes. On a day when Sheehan looked October-ready, Rushing sounded the same.

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