The Los Angeles Dodgers escaped Citizens Bank Park with a 2-0 lead in the National League Division Series on Monday night, but not without tense moments.
The Dodgers took the lead late, scoring four runs in the seventh inning. The Philadelphia Phillies responded with a run in the eighth inning to bring the game within three runs.
However, some questionable pitching decisions in the ninth inning nearly let the Phillies comeback for a walk-off victory to even the series. After the game, Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts addressed those decisions.
Dave Roberts Explains Questionable Ninth Inning Decisions
Roberts went with reliever Blake Treinen in the ninth inning to try to get the save against the Phillies, but instead he allowed three straight batters to reach, scoring two runs with the tying run in scoring position.
Then, Roberts went to reliever Alex Vesia, who benefitted from a heads up defensive play to get one out, allowed a hit to put the game-tying run in scoring position again, and then got a second out.
That's when Roberts finally brought in Roki Sasaki, who closed out the Dodgers' Game 1 win. Sasaki got Trea Turner to ground out and the Dodgers secured the Game 2 win. But, what took so long to get the Dodgers' new closer into the game?
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"I thought about it," Roberts said postgame. "(Sasaki) hasn't gone two out of three much at all."
Sasaki pitched in the Dodgers' final game of the wild card series, and then again in Saturday night's Game 1 win against the Phillies. Although Tuesday made it three straight games for Sasaki, it was only three outings in a six day span.
However, it seems more like Roberts felt a three run lead gave the Dodgers some breathing room and was hoping to get Treinen back on track
"Blake's pitched some of the biggest outs, innings, in the postseason for us," Roberts said. "And felt really confident right there. And with (Alex) Vesia behind him if needed."
In last year's World Series run, Treinen had a 2.19 ERA across 12.1 innings, and had three saves. However, in 2025, Treinen had a 5.40 ERA during the regular season and especially struggled toward the end of the year.
NICK CASTELLANOS MAKES IT A ONE-RUN GAME IN THE 9TH#NLDS pic.twitter.com/fr4W9uPoLM
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On the flip side, Vesia has had a very strong year for Dodgers with a 3.02 ERA and five saves on the year. Vesia also threw 5.2 scoreless innings in last year's run.
Roberts was hoping to give his newly found closer a day off as Sasaki only became a reliever last month.
"I didn't want to just kind of, you know, preemptively put him in there," Roberts said of Sasaki. "Again, I felt good with who we had, with our leverage relievers, a couple of our highest-leverage relievers (Treinen and Vesia). And fortunately (Sasaki) was ready when called upon. And I liked him versus Trea, and he got a big out for us."
Big out indeed. The final out crushed the sole of Philadelphia fans at Citizens Bank Park and gave the Dodgers a commanding 2-0 lead in the NLDS as it heads to Los Angeles for Game 3 and, if necessary, Game 4.