Dave Roberts: Dodgers Use Bullpen Games To ‘Protect’ Starters With Extra Rest

The Los Angeles Dodgers dropped their series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-1, as they were unable to get anything going against Kevin Gausman.

For the Dodgers, their pitching was strong for seven of their eight innings pitched, with all three runs allowed in the second inning. The Dodgers were utilizing a bullpen game and asked Michael Grove to throw a second inning after a clean first.

That led to the three runs scoring on a walk, double and home run before Grove was able to get out of the inning. Outside of Grove’s poor inning, Alex Vesia, Ryan Yarbrough and Nabil Crismatt combined to keep the Blue Jays off the board.

Although a bullpen game against the Blue Jays’ ace seemingly put the Dodgers at a disadvantage, manager Dave Roberts disagrees with that assesment and believes they are beneficial to the club, he said on SportsNet LA:

“I think that if you sort of dig into bullpen games, I would argue you do give yourself a good chance to prevent runs. And so the cost is using more guys. But I think that appreciating our starters and where they’re at, giving them that extra day (of rest) – and in this particular case, James Paxton – is going to be more beneficial.”

The downside to bullpen games is they are taxing to the relievers. The Dodgers have been able to get by with Yarbrough covering the majority of innings in each one, but they have also cycled through relievers often this season.

But the Dodgers believe by utilizing bullpen games and getting their starters extra rest, that will in turn help their starters pitch more effectively and deeper into games, thus taking some pressure off the bullpen, which allows it to work as a long-term solution:

“I think so. I think so. I think the main thing for us is we’re all aligned that we have to protect our starters, however that might be. One way we can do that is to give them extra rest, and then the balance of obviously not taxing the ‘pen too much. But having length guys is helpful and having your starters go longer is helpful, which we’ve seen this past week.”

Bullpen games have proven to be effective by giving opposing hitters a new look each time at-bat and helping get ideal matchups each inning. However, with more pitchers in each game, that adds extra variables in the sense of if one pitcher is having an off day, then it can put a strain on the rest of the group, or lead to a loss.

While one pitcher can still end up causing issues for a team with the normal strategy of using starters, there will still likely be fewer innings to cover and fewer relievers needed, so it would be easier to make a change on the mound if needed.

As with most strategies, there are both benefits and negatives to using bullpen games, and the Dodgers seem to think the positives outweigh the negatives.

Dodgers not concerned with Walker Buehler

The Dodgers never set a target date for Walker Buehler to come off the 15-day injured list for his 2024 debut, but it wasn’t long ago that Roberts suggested it was imminent.

However, Buehler has remained on a rehab assignment and is poised to make yet another start for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Tuesday.

Although Buehler is not yet at the point of being activated, Roberts dismissed the notion of potentially having some concern and explained the right-hander merely needs to continue building his pitch count.