A BIG RELIEF
Dodgers bullpen steps in early, carries the load to keep win streak going
WASHINGTON >> It’s a bullpen day-and-a-half now.
Already down a starter for Sunday’s game, a one-hour, 44-minute rain delay cut Clayton Kershaw’s day short after four innings and put the Dodgers’ bullpen to work early. Five relievers each put up a scoreless inning in a 5-3 victory over the Washington Nationals Saturday night.
Brusdar Graterol, Joe Kelly, Phil Bickford, Blake Treinen and Kenley Jansen protected what was a onerun lead most of the way with only Kelly and Jansen facing more than three batters in their inning. The Nationals went 3 for 17 against
the Dodgers’ relievers.
Four-game series are not common. But the Dodgers swept one from this franchise on the road for the first time since the Nationals were the Montreal Expos in May 1982. The Dodgers have now won eight consecutive games since they were no-hit by the Chicago Cubs, outscoring their opponents 43-18 in that stretch.
The Dodgers’ relievers will have to sleep fast after this
one. Saturday’s rain delay means they will have to handle 14 innings in roughly 16 hours, having gone to work when play resumed at about 10:30 p.m. local time — and scheduled to report for an 11 a.m. start on the Fourth of July.
“All hands on deck,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. The eternal optimist sees his bullpen as half full, not half empty.
“I think we’re in a good spot,” he said. “We’ll make a move to bring (right-hander Edwin) Uceta tomorrow. He’ll be fresh and able to go 75, 80 pitches if need be. But some other guys it’s going to be two out of three, three out of four, something like that. But we have enough pitching.”
Before the Skittles-sponsored tarp made its seemingly nightly appearance at Nationals Park, both starters cruised through the first three innings then ran into matching trouble in the fourth.
Nationals starter Paolo Espino gave up a leadoff single to Mookie Betts to start the game then retired the next nine Dodgers in order.
Kershaw also gave up a leadoff single. He got a double-play grounder then retired another seven Nationals batters in order.
In the fourth, however, Espino lit the fuse for the Dodgers, wrapping walks to Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger around a single by Justin Turner to load the bases with no outs. Runs scored on back-to-back sacrifice flies by Will Smith and Albert Pujols (his 19th RBI since joining the Dodgers) and another scored on a double by Gavin Lux.
Kershaw’s trouble percolated more slowly. He walked Juan Soto with one out, struck out Ryan Zimmerman then gave up a two-out single to Starlin Castro. But he was one pitch away from escaping unharmed when a 2-and-2 slider rolled over the heart of the plate with no bite and Yan Gomes slammed it over the left-field wall for a three-run home run, Kershaw hanging his head the instant the ball left Gomes’ bat.
After Betts grounded out to start the fifth inning, the rain storm arrived. Every time it seemed about to stop, things picked up again, repeating the sequence for nearly two hours.
By the time play resumed, Kershaw was done.
“It’s something that was out of everyone’s control. It certainly wasn’t ideal,” Roberts said. “I know Clayton wanted to keep going, which is a credit to him — no surprise. But we’ll get through tomorrow, expect to win and we’ll see where we’re at on Monday.”
The Dodgers took the lead in the sixth inning without leaving the comfort of the infield previously swaddled by the Skittles logo.
Nationals reliever Wander Suero hit Smith with a pitch, putting a runner on with one out. Albert Pujols bounced a grounder to newly-acquired shortstop Alcides Escobar and the Nationals somehow avoided turning a double play on the all-time leader for hitting into them.
Escobar bobbled the ball, flipped underhand to second base too late to get the force on Smith and second baseman Josh Harrison’s relay was wide of first, allowing both runners to be safe. Harrison drew the only error on the play botched on both sides of the base.
After Lux struck out, A.J. Pollock chopped a grounder 65.1 mph up the third-base line, beating it out for a single as the goahead run scored.
It was the first of the Dodgers’ eight consecutive wins that didn’t feature a home run.
“It doesn’t matter how hard you hit it. It’s just about moving the ball forward,” Roberts said. “We’ve been a lot better at that. I know we have it in us. When we can do that -- it’s not really small ball, it’s baseball. When we can do that, with all the talent and the slug that we have potentially, we’re as good as anybody.”
The Dodgers added an insurance run in the top of the ninth when Lux walked, stole second and scored on Chris Taylor’s RBI single.