It’s their big playoff pitch
Heaney is sharp out of the bullpen and Vargas delivers clutch single as they make cases for roles in October.
SAN DIEGO — It’s dress rehearsal week for the Dodgers.
And in a 5-2 win against the San Diego Padres on Thursday night, they witnessed some intriguing performances from a couple of players with yet-to-be determined roles.
Andrew Heaney shined in his first appearance out of the bullpen, pitching four scoreless innings as a bulk reliever. A new-look bullpen without a designated closer once again delivered, stringing together four more spotless innings in a series rubber match at Petco Park.
And perhaps the biggest wild card of all, rookie outfielder Miguel Vargas, produced the night’s biggest hit, giving renewed life to his case of making the postseason roster with a tiebreaking two-run single in the sixth inning.
“His name is certainly in the mix to make the postseason roster, absolutely,” manager Dave Roberts said.
Now, the team has a week to figure out such decisions.
With everything but home-field advantage in the World Series locked up, the last stretch of the regular season will be something of a test run for the Dodgers (108-48), before they finalize their roster for next month’s National League Division Series.
On Thursday, that meant using Heaney as a reliever for the first time this year, bringing the lefthander out of the bullpen behind opener Brusdar Graterol in anticiof a likely role change for the playoffs — when he’ll likely be squeezed out of the rotation behind Julio Urías, Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Anderson and Tony Gonsolin.
“Andrew has been a starter his entire career, so to give him a little opportunity to come out of the ’pen and see what that’s like, feel what that’s like just made a lot of sense,” Roberts said.
While Graterol was charged with two runs after Trea Turner and Chris Taylor failed to field a two-out grounder from Brandon Drury in the first, Heaney looked