Dodgers: Why didn’t Dave Roberts use Rocky Sasaki earlier in Game 2?

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was trying to play the long game Monday night.

That’s why, when his team entered the ninth inning with a three-run lead in Game 2 of the National League Division Series, he gave the saving throw to Blake Treinen instead of Rocky Sasaki.

All things being equal, Roberts would probably turn to Sasaki to start the half. In just two weeks since returning from a shoulder injury and being moved to the bullpen, the converted rookie has become the club’s most dominant relief option.

But, despite the 23-year-old right-hander’s breakthrough at the time — posting four scoreless outings with a 100-mph fastball and an unhittable breaker — the team remained conscientious about managing Sasaki’s workload, which included one appearance in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series, then another in Game 1 of the NLDS just days earlier.

And so, with Roberts feeling confident enough in Treinen (the veteran right-hander coming off the worst season of his career but also some improved games recently) to protect a three-run cushion that felt relatively comfortable, he left Sasaki sitting in the bullpen despite the bailout situation.

He tried to use the opportunity to give his loyal player a rest.

“Two out of three didn’t go [days] “Absolutely a lot,” Roberts said after the game. “So I didn’t want to put him out there preemptively. I felt good with who we had.

Naturally, this plan almost backfired disastrously. Treinen gave up two runs without retiring a batter. Alex Vesia needed his defense to turn the wheel on Bryson Stott’s hit to limit the damage from there. In the end, Sasaki entered the game anyway to score the final score.

Moving forward, Roberts confirmed Tuesday, Sasaki is “definitely the primary option now” for any future save situations — which is the closest the team will get to being called a closer, as they could also opt to use him in high-leverage positions heading into the ninth.

“Obviously, what Rocky did, and continues to show, has been very encouraging on a lot of fronts,” Roberts said.

However, the question remains how hard the Dodgers can ride him the rest of these playoffs; And how carefully they balance the burden they place on a young pitcher who has never played a relief role before.

“He’s not going to close out every game, that’s not possible,” Roberts said Tuesday. “This is something he’s never done. And you expect it to continue for a few more weeks.” [in the postseason]. So all of these things have to come into play, which a lot of people don’t appreciate.

The deeper the Dodgers get into the playoffs, the more difficult this calculus becomes.

Right now, the team prefers for Sasaki to have at least one day of rest before each match. And while Roberts didn’t rule out using him on back-to-back days, he described it as the “next graduation spot” for the Japanese offseason signing (who pitched in just eight MLB games at the start of the season before initially getting hurt and missing the next four months).

“There is no guarantee how things will be [in a back-to-back sequence]Roberts said, adding that any potential use of Sasaki on back-to-back days would require conversations to be held beforehand with coaches about how Sasaki would appear in pre-match hunting sessions.

“I would love for Rocky to throw every day if he could, but that’s not possible,” Roberts repeated. “Again, we have a lot of conversations, and then I make my decision.”

In other words, Sasaki will get the majority of the save opportunities going forward. But he probably won’t be the only one dealing with such stains.

Sheehan responds in a setting role

After a promising regular season in which he posted a 2.82 ERA in 15 outings, the Dodgers looked to Emmett Sheehan to be a multi-inning setup man for their beleaguered relief corps.

His first playoff outing was troublesome: he gave up two hits and two walks while recording just one run in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series against the Reds.

But on Monday night, he bounced back with two innings of one-run relief to keep the Dodgers’ lead intact entering the ninth.

The biggest moment of Sheehan’s outing (in which he retired the team in the seventh inning, before giving up a triple to Max Kepler and an RBI single to Trea Turner in the eighth) came after he surrendered that one run. The Phillies had left-handers Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper scheduled to be next. The Dodgers had Vesia, their best left-handed option, heating up in the bullpen.

For a brief moment, as pitching coach Mark Pryor came to the mound and Sheehan fidgeted with his PitchCom during a long layoff, it appeared the Dodgers were stalling on getting Vesia to warm up.

But Roberts stayed put in the end and allowed Sheehan to pitch to the Phillies’ star duo. His faith was rewarded with two runs that ended the inning. Sheehan hit Schwarber with a 97.6 mph fastball to the inside corner, tied for his third-hardest pitch in a strikeout of the season. Then he made Harper fly out on a changeup, pumping a fist into his glove as he jumped off the pitch.

“I think it showed some of the adjustments I’ve made compared to that previous game [against the Reds]“Sheehan said.

The biggest one?

“Definitely control your emotions,” Sheehan admitted. “It’s a big piece of getting out of the bullpen. I’ve talked to a lot of guys about it, especially after Cincinnati where I wasn’t comfortable out there.”

The Reds outing was, of course, a major red flag for the Dodgers’ plans. Given the struggles of the team’s traditional relievers entering the playoffs, Sheehan was supposed to essentially be a setup man out of the bullpen capable of bridging the gap from starting pitcher to ninth pitcher.

On that wild outing, he felt like he was “trying to do a little too much, trying to be a little too good with my throws in the corners,” Sheehan said.

“That’s not really my game,” he said too late. “So I think just getting back to the approach and game plan that has been working over the last couple of months has been big. Trying to go straight at them and attack in the box.”

Roberts gave Sheehan the leash to do so on Monday, and will likely continue to call him on in high-leverage positions moving forward, perhaps making Sheehan and Sasaki his preferred combination to close out the final rounds of matches.

“I felt like his stuff was still really good [and that] “He wasn’t running away from those guys at the top,” Roberts said Tuesday of letting Sheehan face Schwarber and Harper (who have a combined 14-run history in the NLDS with two walks and eight strikeouts).

“I trusted him. I felt in that moment that he was the best choice. And he was proven right.”

Treinen lacks “edge”

On the other end of the sincere confidence spectrum is Treinen, who not only failed to retire any of the three batters he faced in Game 2, but also, at least in Roberts’ estimation, also did not look like someone confident in his skills.

“I didn’t see that ledge last night, and I know I’ve seen it a few times,” Roberts said Tuesday.

In fact, Treinen was the Dodgers’ most reliable savior during last year’s World Series, when he had three saves, two carries, two wins, and his October was punctuated by two scoreless innings of relief in Game 5 of the World Series.

This season has been a different story, as Treinen stumbled to a career-worst 5.40 ERA after missing most of the first half with a forearm issue.

Despite this, Treinen entered Monday on a high, having struck out three batters in the regular-season finale before pitching two scoreless games in the wild-card series.

However, the Phillies have taken advantage of this year’s inability to get as much swing-and-miss, swinging on just one of their eight swings while stringing one and two doubles together (the latter on a half-swing from Nick Castellanos against Treinen’s trademark sweeper).

“I felt like he got some momentum going into that last one, so I’ll check him out,” Roberts said. “But there are ways of how to go about an outing, whether it is successful or unsuccessful, and how the player conducts himself which is what interests me.”

On Monday, Trenin didn’t check that box. Whether or not he will be thrown into such a high-leverage position the next time he is out remains to be seen.