Dodgers Interview: Tanner Scott reflects on a messy, meaningful save in Seattle
SEATTLE — The box score will remember the “S” next to Tanner Scott’s name. Anyone who watched Friday night in Seattle will remember the path he took to earn it—one hit (a Cal Raleigh double), an intentional walk, a hit-by-pitch, bases loaded with two outs, and the tying run 90 feet away. Then a slider darted off the plate, a mighty swing found only air, and the Dodgers pocketed a 3–2 win that felt like more than a September notch. It felt like a step forward for a closer who’s worn his struggles on his sleeve.
Scott didn’t sugarcoat the chaos. “When everyone came to the mound—Miggy and Kiké—they were awesome,” he said afterward. “They hyped me up and…I got the job done. That’s all that matters and we won.” In a season where the margins have occasionally chewed him up, the veteran lefty leaned on the clubhouse’s spine: Miguel Rojas’ steady presence and Kiké Hernández’s energy. The message was simple—trust your stuff, attack, finish.
The inning nearly went sideways on a single and, later, a hit batsman. “On Garver, I tried going up and then got too far in, hit him,” Scott admitted. No excuses, just cause and effect. After an intentional walk tightened the screws, the matchup turned to slugger Eugenio Suárez, the exact kind of thunder bat that has turned late innings into fire drills around the league. Scott’s plan? Keep the barrel out of the fight. “He’s a power hitter. You’re not trying to get anything in the zone. You’re trying to get below it, above it, in or out. I made some pitches and it went my way.”
That last slider—teasing the strike zone before diving off the edge—was the separator. Not a get-me-over, not a coin flip. A conviction pitch outside the zone that trusted chase and movement, the same equation that made Scott so tough when he’s right. It’s the blueprint: earn the chase up or down, change the hitter’s eye level, finish with tilt.
The mound conference that preceded it mattered. Rojas talked earlier about those moments, how veteran voices can reset the heartbeat. Scott echoed that sentiment unprompted. “Miggy’s a great leader,” he said. “I’ve known him since our time in Miami together.” There’s comfort in familiarity, and there’s credibility in the guy who’s been in every kind of game, in every kind of park, reminding you that your best stuff is still your best path.
It would be easy to dismiss this as mere survival. It was more than that. The Dodgers treated the night like an October simulation—on the road, one-run lead, playoff-caliber opponent, bullpen carrying a heavy load—and asked their closer to navigate traffic without panic. He did. It wasn’t pretty, but the postseason rarely is. Winning leverage innings often comes down to two things: refusing to put a cookie in the zone and believing the next pitch can be your best. Scott did both when it mattered.
There’s also the mental game. Confidence for relievers is built in deposits, not windfalls. Scott knows the rhythm. “You just gotta—like today’s over—and move on to the next day,” he said. “As a reliever you always try to build off the last one, and that’s huge.” It’s a mantra you hear from bullpen lifers: learn what you can, leave what you must, and keep the arm and the mind pointed at the next hitter.
For a Dodgers club that clinched early and is now tuning the engine, a night like this checks multiple boxes. The bullpen stacked quality innings in a scheduled “pen day.” The defense and dugout communication stayed crisp in a tight park. And Scott, who has been through a choppy stretch, found a way to lock the door with his A weapon—sweep and late bite off the edge—rather than trying to thread a perfect strike at the worst possible time.
It’s fair to say the leash gets shorter in October; it always does. But the Dodgers don’t need a different Tanner Scott, they need the truest version—the one who trusts movement over middle, who isn’t afraid to miss off the plate, who can take a mound visit and turn it into an out. Friday was that guy. The final sequence—brave misses that turned into a flailing swing—was the reminder.
So, yes, the save was ragged. And yes, it counts all the same. More importantly, it gives Scott something real to stack: a nerve-testing spot, a plan he believed in, and a finish that played in any month. If the Dodgers are going where they intend to go, they’ll need more of that: conviction pitches in dirty innings, backed by a dugout that keeps feeding belief.
On Friday night, the bullpen won the leverage. Tanner Scott took the last, hardest step. And when the slider disappeared into the night outside the zone and Suárez’s bat chased a ghost, you could almost hear October clearing its throat.
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