SAN DIEGO — Mark Prior lingered in a hallway along the ground floor of Petco Park, waiting out a traffic jam that the Los Angeles Dodgers had lightened by sending thousands of fans streaming early toward the exits in an 8-0 victory over the San Diego Padres in Game 4 of the National League Division Series. He snorted when a reporter asked how the Dodgers had prepared for the game. It had been a long day.
“A lot of meetings,” Prior said. “Just, literally, a lot of meetings.”
It was just shy of 10 p.m. on Wednesday. Prior, the Dodgers pitching coach, had assembled with the rest of the team’s brain trust about nine hours earlier. Together they pored over spreadsheets and heat maps, trying to create a blueprint for 27 outs without a starting pitcher. The Dodgers entered the evening in an unenviable position — running a bullpen game in an elimination game, on the road, against a divisional opponent who had pilloried their starters in the first three games of this series.
On paper, Game 4 looked like a mismatch. In reality, the outcome breathed life back into the Dodgers. Eight relievers combined for seven strikeouts while scattering seven hits. Ryan Brasier collected four outs, only one fewer than Padres starter Dylan Cease. Alex Vesia and Evan Phillips each contributed multi-inning stints. San Diego did not advance a runner beyond second base. Manager Dave Roberts pushed the right button, time after time, at a time when the team could not afford missteps. Inside a victorious clubhouse, the credit extended from the relievers to the offense and even to the previous night’s pitcher. And, of course, to the staffers who concocted the strategy to subdue San Diego.
“How many hours do you think we spent?” Prior asked bench coach Danny Lehmann as they packed for Los Angeles.
“About two,” Lehmann said.
“Too much,” Prior said.
The preparation proved just enough to set up a decisive Game 5 on Friday. These two clubs have been on a “collision course” since March, as Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman suggested before the series began. “We knew all year that ‘Hey, if we’re going to do this, we’re going to have to go through the best,’” Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller said. And so the teams will reconvene at Dodger Stadium, a ballpark that would have stayed quiet had the Dodgers bullpen not intervened.
“It just shows the chemistry in this clubhouse, the type of ballplayers we have,” reliever Daniel Hudson said. “There’s a lot of grit. No quit in this team. Obviously, back against the wall, we knew we were going to have to come in and fight these guys and try to get back to L.A.”
After the game, Roberts declined to tip his hand about which Dodger will face Yu Darvish on Friday. Game 1 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be available on six days of rest. Jack Flaherty, the Game 2 starter, is also fresh; Flaherty spent Wednesday in the bullpen in case of emergency. Or, Roberts suggested, the team could just execute another bullpen game.
“When you get into the postseason, it’s a street fight,” Roberts said. “It’s about people, players, and your desire has got to be more than your opponent. And for me to see our guys go through what they’ve been through and respond the way they have really makes me excited about Game 5.”
The Dodgers did not enter this situation by choice. The team lacked faith in rookie Landon Knack but also lacked alternatives. Tyler Glasnow hurt his elbow in August and never returned. Clayton Kershaw was felled by bone spurs in his toe. Bobby Miller combusted in September. The list of injured young starters is so lengthy that Friedman has promised a pitching development autopsy this offseason.
The bullpen survived its own slew of injuries. The group still finished the season with the fourth-lowest ERA in baseball. The midseason acquisition of Michael Kopech provided Roberts with another option for a late-game group that featured Hudson, Evan Phillips and Blake Treinen.
“We’ve got eight, nine, 10 guys who all can come in in high-leverage situations,” Vesia said. “I think it shows. The script for us can be written in many different ways. We use that in our favor, big-time.”
The team found a silver lining in a Game 3 loss. Walker Buehler rebounded from a six-run second inning to last five frames. That effort allowed Roberts to stay away from Vesia, Phillips and Treinen. The manager entered Game 4 with a full array of relievers. Before the game he suggested the Dodgers would be “throwing a bunch of arms at these guys today, giving them different looks.” He made good on his promise.
The staff was talking through the plan until about 30 minutes before first pitch, Prior said. They kept the players abreast of their intentions. The assignments revolved less around innings than the composition of the Padres lineup. After Brasier opened the show, Roberts sent left-hander Anthony Banda to face left-handed-hitting Padres like Jackson Merrill, David Peralta and Jake Cronenworth. When the San Diego lineup turned over for the third, Roberts tasked Kopech with facing the heart of the order.
By then, the offense had already staked the bullpen to a five-run lead. “We had a shutout inning every time we scored runs on the offensive side today,” Brasier said.
San Diego did not stage a rally until the fifth. Vesia gave up a single to Peralta before walking Cronenworth. Roberts stuck with Vesia for two more batters before turning to Phillips to face Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. Tatis had hounded Dodgers pitchers all series. Phillips disarmed him with five consecutive sweeps. Tatis hit a harmless fly to center field. The Padres did not threaten again.
Yet Roberts did not loosen the reins. After Gavin Lux’s seventh-inning homer expanded the lead to eight, he stuck with high-leverage options. All the homer did was keep Phillips, who had collected four outs on 10 pitches, from returning for more action. Hudson threw the bottom of the seventh. Treinen took the eighth. Knack finished the ninth. At no point during the night did Prior exhale.
“Honestly, no,” Prior said. “You saw what they did the other night. They can put up runs very quickly.”
It is true. The Padres have hammered Dodgers starters throughout this series. But on Wednesday, they did not face one. Instead, they faced a collection of eight relievers, a group capable of keeping one season alive while pushing another to the brink.
“Ninety-nine point nine percent of the credit goes to the players,” Prior said. “Every one of them did their job.”
(Top photo of Landon Knack: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
