In the hours before Game 4 of the National League Division Series at Petco Park on Wednesday night, there was a quiet but palpable belief around the Dodgers dugout, one that belied the seemingly dire state in which they found themselves.
Sure, the team was facing a third-straight elimination in the NLDS, down two games to one to the San Diego Padres.
And no, they were not at full strength, playing without injured veterans Freddie Freeman and Miguel Rojas on the same day they opted for a bullpen game from their banged-up pitching staff.
Yet, in a stark difference from the last couple of Octobers, they showed no panic. They felt no dread.
“We have the players and the people that can make this happen,” outfielder Teoscar Hernández said in his pregame press conference. “And I trust every single guy in that clubhouse.”
By the end of the night, that optimism had blossomed into postgame celebration, the Dodgers saving their season with a clinical 8-0 win.
Unlike last year, when they were blanketed by Arizona Diamondbacks pitchers in a season-ending loss, their lineup looked locked in, scoring three runs in the first two innings against Padres starter Dylan Cease, who was pitching for the first time in his career on three days’ rest, before adding two more in the third inning, staking an early 5-0 advantage.
Unlike 2022, when the Dodgers blew a late lead in a Game 4 elimination in this same building, their bullpen didn’t crumble down the stretch either, with eight different pitchers combining for the Dodgers’ first postseason shutout since the wild card round in 2020.
With the best-of-five series tied 2-2, Game 5 is scheduled for Friday night back at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers’ path to a Game 4 victory began in the wake of the Padres’ Game 3 win. In his postgame press conference Tuesday night, Padres manager Mike Shildt announced that Cease, who started Game 1 of the series, would get the ball in Game 4 on three days’ rest.
That, to some with the Dodgers, was good news. Not just because they’d tagged Cease with five runs in less than four innings in their Game 1 triumph, but also because, for the first time in three postseasons, they’d get the chance to see the same starting pitcher twice in one series.
“I think as a hitter, you’re just going to be ready in your zone,” Roberts said pregame of his lineup’s approach to facing Cease a second time. “And then if there’s a mistake to be had, be ready to hit it.”
From the very first inning, Roberts’ hitters were.
Just like in Game 3, Mookie Betts set the tone with a first-inning homer, connecting on a full-pitch fastball in the middle of the zone. And rather than squander the early momentum like they did Tuesday, the Dodgers just kept tacking on from there.
Quality second-inning at-bats from Gavin Lux (a walk) and Kiké Hernández (a two-strike single) led to RBI singles from Shohei Ohtani (who had only been one for his last 12 at that point) and Betts, making it 3-0.
Then, with Cease out of the game, the Dodgers added two more in the third, when Will Smith snapped his streak of nine hitless at-bats to start the series by launching a two-run home run to straightaway center.
The 5-0 lead was more than enough breathing room for the Dodgers’ lockdown bullpen.
Ryan Brasier opened the game with four-straight outs. Anthony Banda took over from there by stranding a pair of baserunners in the second.
Roberts got aggressive in the third, going to closer Michael Kopech even with the five-run lead.
Left-hander Alex Vesia got the most outs of anyone, pitching ⅔ innings while stranding two more runners in the fifth.
The mixing and matching continued from there, with Evan Phillips, Daniel Hudson, Blake Treinen and Landon Knack getting the game across the finish line.
Though it was hardly an ideal situation for a club that spent close to $500 million on starting pitching in the offseason, it worked to effect. Luis Arraez, Jurickson Profar and Fernando Tatis Jr. each had just one hit. Manny Machado took an 0-fer with two strikeouts against four different pitchers.
Wednesday wasn’t without some adversity for the Dodgers.
Rojas, as expected, was unable to play because of his adductor injury. Freeman was initially in the starting lineup, but got scratched less than two hours before the game in his continuing battle with a sprained right ankle.
In their absence, however, Ohtani (one hit, two walks, one RBI), Betts (two hits and two RBIs) and Teoscar Hernández (two hits) delivered star-caliber performances –– even when accounting for a whacky fifth-inning play when a possible RBI double from Hernández hit the arm of third-base umpire Mark Ripperger, leading to Ohtani getting thrown out at home plate.
The bottom of the batting order, meanwhile, was equally impressive.
Kiké Hernández capitalized on his first start of the series with two hits (while also flipping between third base and center field depending on if a fly-ball or ground-ball pitcher was on the mound), making a strong case to remain in the lineup for Game 5. Gavin Lux continued his strong series with an infield single in the sixth and an insurance two-run homer in the seventh. Even Tommy Edman, who didn’t have a hit, contributed with a sacrifice bunt that scored a run.
It was everything the Dodgers hoped would happen coming into the game; and everything they failed to produce when facing elimination the previous two years.
Rather than letting another mid-series wobble devolve into a total October collapse, they fought back to force a winner-take-all showdown at home in Chavez Ravine.
