One day after waving the white flag in the 6th inning of a blowout loss the Los Angeles Dodgers got back in the win column, defeating the San Diego Padres 5-2. With the victory the Dodgers won the three-game series 2-1 against their division rival. And manager Dave Roberts enjoyed seeing his team bounce back.
“It’s fun playing these guys. They know they’re talented, we know we’re talented. It’s a big series – it’s not the end all be all certainly in June. But it was fun,” Roberts said after the Dodgers beat the Padres Wednesday, per SportsNet LA on X.
“It wasn’t a surprise to me, the resilience. And after having a clunker last night to come back and be prepared out of the pen and guys performed to find a way to win a series. That was our goal coming into this ballpark and we did that. So not surprising. We do a good job of turning the page,” Roberts added when asked about LA’s response to Monday’s 11-1 shellacking.
The Dodgers rebounded from blowout loss to win series vs Padres
The Dodgers sent utility man Kiké Hernández to the mound to pitch in Monday’s game with the team down 9-0 early. Hernández made some unique history in his outing, as his 2.1 innings pitched were the most ever thrown by a position player against San Diego.
Hernández acquitted himself fairly well, allowing one earned run on three hits. But more importantly, he saved the Dodgers’ bullpen from having to throw in a lost cause. That strategy paid off Wednesday as Roberts used eight pitchers in the win.
Reliever Ben Casparius earned the surprise start and came up big for the Dodgers. He gave up just one earned run on three hits and two walks with two strikeouts. The performance drew praise from Roberts, who’s planning on using Casparius as a starter in the future.
The Dodgers need all the options they can get as the team has a remarkable 14 pitchers on the injured list. However, LA got two previously injured relievers back recently as Kirby Yates and Michael Kopech rejoined the bullpen. Both saw action against the Padres as each pitched 0.1 innings.
Kopech made his season debut June 8, returning after being sidelined by forearm and shoulder injuries since last September. Meanwhile Yates had been on the IL since mid May with a strained hamstring
The Dodgers have won three of their last four to improve to 41-28 on the season. They have a one game lead over the second-place San Francisco Giants in the NL West.
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