On Tuesday evening, the Los Angeles Dodgers picked up a 10-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of their Wild Card series, with the winner advancing to the NLDS. The game was an offensive explosion for the Dodgers, headlined by two home runs each from Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernandez.
At one point, Los Angeles led this game 10-2, before a hot eighth inning from the Reds made the final score a more respectable 10-5.
After the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke on his annoyance with how the bullpen performed in that eighth inning.
“It's very clear to me, when you're on the attack, those guys are on their heels with the lead we have. When you start being too fine and getting behind, you start giving them free bases, and that's how you can build innings and get momentum. So that's what I saw in that inning there for sure,” said Roberts, per Dodger Blue on X, formerly Twitter.
“If we don't feel comfortable using certain guys with an 8-run lead, then we've got to think through some things. But as you pitch guys, you start to learn more about guys. And that's kind of how it goes,” he added, per Blake Williams of Dodger Blue.
A big win for Los Angeles
Despite the frustrating bullpen performance, the Los Angeles Dodgers still did what they needed to do on Tuesday evening in front of the home fans, pushing themselves to just one win away from making yet another NDLS appearance.
It's been a strange year for the Dodgers, who were projected by many to be among the best teams of all time heading into the year after adding some notable free agent talent to their roster from a year ago.
Instead, the Dodgers have been hampered by injuries and some regression from their roster, but that didn't stop them from at least getting to the Wild Card, where they showed up on Tuesday evening with guns blazing.
The Dodgers will look to officially advance on Wednesday night, once again against the Reds shortly after 9:00 PM ET.
