LOS ANGELES — Jack Flaherty got the Dodgers off to a good start with seven scoreless innings in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. They will ask him to do it again.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed Tuesday that Flaherty will start Game 1 of the World Series against the New York Yankees on Friday night. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start Game 2 at Dodger Stadium. Walker Buehler will start either Game 3 or 4 in New York with Roberts saying “there will be a bullpen game” in one of those.
“I get to pitch first,” Flaherty said when asked the meaning of a Game 1 assignment to him. “It’s an opportunity to go out and set the tone, make some adjustments after the last game that I had and be able to set us up for the rest of the Series.”
After holding the New York Mets to two hits over seven shutout innings in Game 1 of the NLCS, Flaherty faced them again in Game 5 and did not fare as well. With a chance to close out the series, Flaherty gave up eight runs on eight hits and four walks in just three innings of a 12-6 loss. He said the game “sped up” on him and the Mets made adjustments between Games 1 and 5 that he didn’t respond to adequately.
If the game sped up, Flaherty’s fastball slowed down. He averaged 91.2 mph on his four-seam fastball, down 2 mph from his season average. It’s a dip Flaherty experienced multiple times during the season.
“It’s usually just timing,” he said Tuesday. “I think going throughout this year I’ve had some starts go like that where it’s kind of up and down and I was able to make corrections going into the next one, maybe not in that moment because it just comes down to timing and the way everything is in sync. Sometimes you start pushing the ball or your arm gets kind of lost in space and you don’t get the same drive behind it or, for me, my lower half gets off a little bit.
“At a certain point, when you get in games like that and you don’t feel quite in sync, it just becomes, you just have to compete and give it everything you’ve got no matter where your stuff is. … It usually just boils down to timing and trying to get the arm and the whole body to sync up. That’s been one of the focuses over the last couple of days.”
After Game 5, Roberts mentioned that Flaherty was feeling “under the weather.” Flaherty has said nothing about that and will be throwing his normal between-starts bullpen session on Wednesday.
“Jack’s been really good for us, that last start withstanding,” Roberts said.
“Even looking at his last start in New York, I think that, self-admitted, certain parts of that game sped up on him. And I think that’s a lesson to be learned. … That’s another experience moment for him that I think that can kind of help him in this series right now. So I think that, we got through it. We weathered it – no pun intended. I think he’s healthy now, and he’ll spit out a good one on Friday.”
INJURY UPDATES
Not in the lineup for Game 6 of the NLCS on Sunday, Freddie Freeman will have had six days off his injured right ankle if he starts Game 1 of the World Series on Friday – and the eight-time All-Star first baseman expects to be in the starting lineup.
“I think with this time off, it’s going to be a 100 percent go for me in Game 1 and we’ll adjust off of that after Game 1,” Freeman said Tuesday. “But I don’t think there’s any question in anybody’s mind that I will be in the lineup for Game 1.”
Left-hander Alex Vesia was left off the Dodgers’ roster for the NLCS with a rib injury. But he will face hitters during workouts either Tuesday or Wednesday. Right-hander Brusdar Graterol has not pitched since Sept. 24 due to a recurring shoulder issue. He is behind Vesia and is not scheduled to face hitters this week but he will throw a bullpen session.
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Roberts said both will be last-minute decisions as far as being on the roster for the World Series. The Dodgers have to submit their roster Friday morning.
“I would say Vesia is more likely. But we’re going to push it as far as we can,” Roberts said. “It’ll be a final, kind of Friday morning situation where we have to make a decision on those two guys.”
Shortstop Miguel Rojas was also left off the NLCS roster with a strained adductor muscle. Rojas has “made some strides” over the past week, Roberts said, but it is “not certain” he will be back on the roster for the World Series.
Second baseman Gavin Lux was somewhat limited in the NLCS with a right hip flexor injury. Roberts said he will be “full go” for the World Series and will be in the lineup for Game 1 against Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole.