To mark Major League Baseball’s Sunday celebration, managers convened a meeting in the clubhouse Sunday afternoon to discuss the Puerto Rican legend’s impact on baseball.
And before the team dispersed about three hours before the first pitch, the ninth-year coach also sent his players a farewell message.
Despite injuries to the pitching staff, questions about roster depth and the tough road the team faces as October approaches, Roberts reminded the crowd that he still believes.
The team’s ability to win the National League West division.
They have a chance to put together an unconventional but potentially strong run through the playoffs.
And, as he later told reporters, “the talent that we have, the character that we have.”
“That’s enough to win the World Series,” he declared.
In the following game against the Atlanta Braves, the Dodgers dramatically demonstrated everything Roberts had talked about.
The Dodgers had lost six of their last nine games and fallen to three games behind the rising San Diego Padres for the lead in the National League West, but they put it all together with a game-changing win at Truist Park.
He pitched six innings, giving up two runs (one earned), striking out five batters and overcoming his control issues early on, putting up his best performance yet in a tough season.
The lineup overcame an early two-run deficit with a fighting spirit that has been lacking at times in recent weeks, keyed by a two-RBI double by .
Then, with the score tied at 2-2 in the top of the ninth, the rest of the Dodgers’ superstar lineup erupted for a decisive seven-run comeback, including an RBI single by and after Ohtani was intentionally walked with two outs, and then three consecutive home runs by and to seal the game.
It brought sighs of relief, cheers of joy and signs of a possible postseason run, all condensed into one potentially season-defining game.
“I don’t want to say it was our biggest win of the year,” Roberts said – a fair assessment for a club that has bounced between hope and fear in a season of ups and downs, “but it felt like a big win, given what we’ve been through and just seeing everyone come together.”
Sure, the Dodgers haven’t lacked confidence recently — they still have the second-best record in the major leagues (88-61) and are in the top two in the National League playoff picture — but recent personnel losses have had a negative effect on the team’s psyche.
The team was already without its ace pitcher at the start of the trip, and on Saturday it learned he will likely be out for the rest of the season.
“I think it would be naive to think that everything we’ve been through doesn’t weigh on our guys, especially on the pitching side of things,” Roberts said. “It should.”
The Dodgers, meanwhile, have stumbled on the field, with the Padres cutting their lead for the division lead in half from six games a week ago by the start of Sunday night’s game.
“I haven’t played well in a week or so,” Betts said. “It’s hard to stay confident.”
In his pre-match speech, Roberts attempted to address some of the frustrations his players have felt recently.
“[He]just gave us confidence, that’s all,” Betts said. “Just told us we’re OK. Just told us to keep fighting, keep fighting and things will get better.”
The message seems to have resonated immediately on the ground.
Buehler was the first to set the tone, allowing only two runs on 31 pitches in the third inning, keeping the Dodgers within striking distance from the start.
The Dodgers then fought back, culminating in a furious rally in the ninth inning when they scored seven runs with two outs against Braves closer Raisel Iglesias. (Per ESPN, this was the most runs the Dodgers have scored with two outs in the ninth inning in a game since 1996.)
“I think there’s a good time during the season for the guys to realize what they’re capable of,” Roberts said, “but you’ve got to play accordingly, so kudos to the guys. The coaches did a good job preparing the guys. I’m glad we played some really good baseball overall.”
The Dodgers were in danger of fizzling out in the third inning, as they have in some recent blowout losses.
After Buehler walked twice and loaded the bases on a catcher’s interference call against Austin Barnes (who later left with a bruised left big toe, the same one he broke last month), Buehler worked an 0-2 count against Braves first baseman Matt Olson but hit four consecutive pitches out of the zone to score the first run of the night.
“I thought I made some pitches that were just a little bit off, off, off,” Buehler said. “I just stuck with it and tried to make the pitches I wanted to make.”
On his next batter, the Dodgers defense didn’t do him any favors.
While Buehler induced a slow grounder from Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud, infielder Gavin Lux struggled to get the ball out of his glove on a relay play at second base and was unable to record the out, allowing another run to cross home plate.
“At one point, the guys on the field and everyone on the team were not happy with the way I was pitching,” Buehler, who entered the night 1-5 with a career-worst 5.95 ERA, said of the defensive miscue that inning. “That’s how it goes. That’s baseball.”
And from then on, Buehler settled down and started turning the pages.
The veteran right-hander was put to the test in October and pitched with a playoff mentality, joking after the game that “it feels like the playoffs for me right now” in reference to the uncertainty of whether he’ll make the postseason roster, but he’s recaptured his form from past postseasons.
He finished the third inning without doing any further damage.
“I felt like we minimized it in some ways,” Buehler said, “and then it started to gain momentum a little bit.”
He then effortlessly pitched three more innings without encountering any further stress, completing six innings for the first time since May.
“I thought mostly strikeouts were what I was looking for tonight,” Buehler said, downplaying his career-high five walks as a starter as “a big step forward for me.”
“Maybe I made too many or too few or whatever,” Buehler added, “but at least mentally, it was the right direction for me. That’s what I want, and that’s why we always talk about feel, control and stuff. You don’t necessarily have to throw every ball where you want it, but doing the right thing at the right time and being able to control the ball’s movement, I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Ohtani’s two doubles tied the game, and reliever Michael Kopech escaped a dangerous situation in the eighth inning, and the Dodgers’ struggling batting line finally came back to life in the ninth inning.
Will Smith led off the inning with a deep fly ball that bounced off the top of the tall brick wall in right-center field for a leadoff triple.
Two at-bats later, Braves manager Brian Snitker made a tough decision: intentionally walk the lefty Ohtani and instead set up a right-on-right matchup between Iglesias and Betts.
“I don’t blame them,” Betts said. “I wouldn’t pitch to him either.”
Unfortunately, just as he did in a similar situation against the Angels earlier this month, Betts got the decisive hit, smashing a center-cut fastball into the infield for a game-winning RBI single.
Former Braves star Freeman soon added another run with a two-run single to left field.
From there, the Dodgers continued to work off their recent frustrations, hitting consecutive home runs for the third time this month.
“It’s just one game and we’ve got to be ready for tomorrow,” Betts said, “but this win let us know we can do it. I thought we did a really good job of staying confident, believing we can do it and keeping the pressure on until we broke through.”
It was the same sentiment Roberts expressed before the game and the same mindset the Dodgers need to have to weather the injury storm that threatens to derail the month of October.
“I think the end of that game says a lot about our team, we weren’t satisfied with a two-goal lead or anything like that, we just kept going,” Buehler said. “I think it was a really big win for us.”
