Montero’s slam wins it as Roberts’ move backfires
CHICAGO — Dave Roberts ducked his head as he walked beneath the low ceilings inside the bowels of this century-old ballpark. His feet trod across Wrigley Field’s stained green carpet. Halfway back to his office, he removed his cap and scratched his head, as if brushing aside the final stages of an 8-4 Dodgers loss in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
In the decisive game of the National League division series against Washington, Roberts had established himself as one of the game’s premier tacticians. Two days later, in a stunning reversal against the Cubs, his choices backfired in seismic fashion.
“That’s baseball, man,” Roberts said. “I still love where we’re at.”
The disappointment stemmed from the bottom of the eighth inning, when Joe Blanton hung a slider with two outs and the bases loaded, and Chicago catcher Miguel Montero sent the baseball into orbit. The tiebreaking grand slam caused reverberations through the ballpark, the rumbling starting
before the ball even landed.
Roberts had maneuvered Blanton into that position, calling for a pair of intentional walks with the hope of forcing Cubs Manager Joe Maddon to remove closer Aroldis Chapman, who was due up to bat. The second walk, ordered by Roberts even though there were runners at first and second base, did in fact induce Maddon to remove Chapman and send up Montero as a pinch-hitter. The sequence could have series-long ramifications.
Despite the defeat, the Dodgers found optimism from the top of the eighth, when they erased a two-run deficit. Chapman, summoned by Maddon with the bases loaded and no outs, was one out from escaping the jam and preserving a 3-1 Cubs lead when Adrian Gonzalez tied the game by smacking a two-run single up the middle. His dugout felt joy for only a few minutes, before Blanton stumbled in the bottom of the inning, but Gonzalez insisted the feeling would linger.
“This actually gives us a lot of confidence,” Gonzalez said. “We know we can beat them.”
The task of actually defeating the Cubs, not merely creating the illusion of doing so, will fall to Clayton Kershaw in Game 2. He will pitch for the third time in five days, after logging 110 pitches Tuesday against Washington and picking up the final two outs in Thursday’s division series clincher. Standing before Kershaw will be the sport’s most formidable team.
The Cubs earned their confidence. They popped Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda for three runs in four innings. Kris Bryant roped an RBI double in the first. In the second, Javier Baez completed a feat that hasn’t happened for the Cubs in a postseason game since 1907. He stole home.
After a triple by outfielder Jason Heyward, Baez delivered a run-scoring pop-fly double. He took third on a wild pitch. At the plate, Lester squared for an apparent squeeze bunt, but held off on an inside fastball. From behind the plate, Carlos Ruiz noticed Baez cheating homeward. Ruiz called the bluff and flung the ball to third baseman Justin Turner.
Baez broke for home. Ruiz’s throw was offline and Turner had to backhand it near his ankles, and Baez slid across the plate before Turner’s off-balance return throw reached Ruiz.
“If I make a better throw, we probably have a chance at home,” Ruiz said.
Down 3-0 after two innings, the Dodgers smacked a series of line drives off Lester, yet their only run against him came on a pinch-hit homer by Andre Ethier in the fifth. Maddon removed him after six innings and only 77 pitches. The early exit gave the Dodgers a chance to attack Chicago’s middle relievers.
In the eighth, Andrew Toles came off the bench with a single. Chase Utley walked. Turner’s infield hit loaded the bases. Maddon activated Chapman, who struck out Corey Seager and Yasiel Puig before Gonzalez volleyed a 102mph fastball back up the middle.
“I was just trying to stay short and stay up the middle,” he said.
Inside his dugout, Roberts erupted. The happiness did not last. Blanton served up a leadoff double to Ben Zobrist. Roberts instructed Blanton to walk Heyward, a left-handed hitter, and go after Baez. That move worked — Blanton got a first-pitch fly out.
Maddon sent outfielder Chris Coghlan to the plate. No Cub has faced Blanton more than Coghlan, who has hit .471 against him in his career. Chapman was due up next.
“The best way to win that game was to get him out of the game,” Roberts said. “I felt that if we did that, then the game was ours.”
The second walk loaded the bases. There was no action in the Dodgers bullpen. Roberts could have chosen a left-handed pitcher to face Montero, a left-handed hitter. But Grant Dayton combusted in Game 5 against Washington, Luis Avilan did likewise in Game 4 and Alex Wood had not pitched since the regular season. Plus, Roberts figured Maddon would counter with right-handed hitter Willson Contreras.
So it was up to Blanton. In his mind, he ran through a previous encounter with Montero, when he fired three inside sliders in a row to strike him out. This time he executed the first two. The third pitch was the juiciest of the trio.
“I tried to do the same thing” from the earlier at-bat, Blanton said. “I just didn’t execute.”
For good measure, Blanton allowed a solo homer to Fowler. The Dodgers managed a run in the ninth, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
As optimism and disappointment competed inside of him afterward, Roberts opted for the light.
“It just didn’t work out,” he said. “But our guys fought.”