LOS ANGELES — Andy Pages has burst onto the scene, Yoshinobu Yamamoto has handled his transition to MLB well and the defense has been far better than advertised, even with the infrequent stumble.
Yet, when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked about the most pleasant surprise two months into the season, he looked toward a different part of the roster.
“I guess probably the roles in the bullpen,” Roberts said. “You know, having four of the five top leverage guys essentially down for a good bit of time, and not having that continuity, (it’s) just being able to have those guys step up and pitch whenever and wherever I ask them to do and still be productive. I think that’s probably been the biggest cog of the first part of the season.”
Evan Phillips (hamstring), Brusdar Graterol (shoulder), Joe Kelly (shoulder) and Ryan Braiser (calf) all are on the injured list. Even an early bullpen replacement in Kyle Hurt (shoulder) is down with an injury. It would be enough to send a lesser team spiraling.
But the Dodgers (33-18 through Tuesday) entered the final game in their stretch of 13 games in 13 days with a National League-best 3.14 bullpen ERA. Making it even more impressive is that their 192⅓ bullpen innings were the second most in baseball.
The relievers also had an NL-best 1.06 walks/hits per nine innings rate and have held opponents to a .207 batting average.
Since Phillips went on the injured list on May 5 with a right hamstring strain, three different relievers have picked up a save: Alex Vesia, Daniel Hudson and J.P Feyereisen. Hudson has two saves in that time, including one Monday, while Feyereisen was sent down Sunday.
Help is on the way with Phillips set to start a minor league rehab assignment with Class A Rancho Cucamonga this weekend. He is expected to throw live batting practice on Friday and pitch in a game Sunday.
The plan is to have Phillips pitch twice in a three-day stretch.
“(That) is something that we’re certainly going to ask him to do,” Roberts said. “The back-to-back is something I think that we’ll kind of feel that one out.”
In addition to Phillips pitching Sunday for Rancho Cucamonga, right-hander Bobby Miller (shoulder) also will take the mound for the Quakes in his own rehab outing as he closes in on a return from shoulder inflammation.
STAYING IN ORDER
The Dodgers will use Thursday’s off day to space out their rotation but will not push back right-hander Yamamoto back an additional day.
Yamamoto is set to take the mound Sunday in the season finale of a three-game series at Cincinnati after pitching this past Monday. In his previous five starts with five days of rest, he is 3-0 with a 2.64 ERA. In the starts when he has six or more days of rest, he is 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA.
In Monday’s outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Yamamoto gave up two runs over 6⅓ innings, his sixth start this season of two runs or less.
The Dodgers are set to have left-hander James Paxton start the series opener against the Reds on Friday, with Walker Buehler taking the mound Saturday.
BUNT MAN
Two days after Shohei Ohtani laid down a bunt single in the first inning, Roberts was asked if wouldn’t mind seeing more of the surprise maneuver.
“You know if the game calls for it,” Roberts said. “If you’re down a couple of runs and a solo HR can’t tie the game, yeah, if the game calls for it.”
That sounds like Ohtani won’t be laying down some early-inning bunts any time soon. The Dodgers would rather let his power swing fly. Roberts did say he was “pleasantly surprised” by Monday’s bunt.
Ohtani has six career bunt singles with the last, before Monday, coming in 2022.
UP NEXT
The Dodgers are off Thursday.
Dodgers (LHP James Paxton, 5-0, 2.84 ERA) at Reds (RHP Graham Ashcraft 3-4, 4.25 ERA), Friday, 4:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM