Dave Roberts Takes Ownership of Mistake Trying to Unnerve Fernando Tatis Jr. That Led to Dodgers’ Downfall Against Padres
It was a ninth-inning nail-biter at Petco Park, a microcosm of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ season so far—a tantalizing blend of brilliance and bewilderment. Manager Dave Roberts found himself in a high-stakes poker game, his cards facing up for all to see. San Diego Padres’ Luis Arraez, baseball’s reigning batting champ, stood at the plate with the winning run on second. Roberts, a seasoned strategist, contemplated the unthinkable: an intentional walk.
“I just felt that, if we could pitch Arraez carefully, we get a chance to get to Tatis,” Roberts later admitted to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The newly acquired Padre had been scorching the league, and with Fernando Tatis Jr. on deck, the Dodgers’ skipper saw a potential out. A right-on-right matchup, Michael Grove versus Tatis Jr., seemed like a gamble worth taking. But baseball, like life, often throws curveballs.
Arraez, unfazed by the tactical dance, lined a walk-off single, ending the Blue Crew’s seven-game win streak and leaving Dave Roberts to dissect his decision in the cold light of defeat. “You kind of pick your poison right there,” Roberts mused. “Just didn’t work out.”
This pivotal moment overshadowed a pitching duel for the ages. Tyler Glasnow, the ace in Blue, was dealing, striking out 10 Padres over seven innings. He yielded just one run, a solo shot by Luis Campusano in the third. On the other side, Michael King was equally dominant, his slider a venomous weapon that baffled Dodger bats, leading to 11 strikeouts.
Yet, the Dodgers’ offense remained puzzlingly absent. Despite out-hitting and out-walking their rivals, they mustered a mere single run, courtesy of Freddie Freeman’s sacrifice fly. A bases-loaded, no-out situation in the eighth yielded nothing, a microcosm of their struggles with runners in scoring position. The lackluster performance raised eyebrows, especially considering the team’s recent offensive explosion, averaging 6.25 runs per game during their 16-game tear. Was it King’s masterful pitching or a collective Blue slump?
