Dodgers: Dave Roberts Reacts to Dustin May Outing, Walk-Off Win
The Dodgers completed a 3-game sweep against the St. Louis Cardinals, and now have a record of 77-40, while holding an 18.5 game lead in the NL West. After being stifled by Cardinal pitching all game long, the offense came to life just enough in the 9th inning to win it off the bat of veteran Russell Martin.
??|
??|
??|
??|
??|
??|
??| _
??| •.•) @Dodgers walked off again
??|??
??| pic.twitter.com/wo9tn9gVz5
— MLB (@MLB) August 7, 2019
After the game, manager Dave Roberts broke down the 9th inning effort from the offense.
Just keep putting together at-bats. Obviously, down a run, you’ve got [Andrew] Miller, but Corey [Seager] gets hit by a pitch, and Will Smith comes up in a big sport against a guy he has never seen, really good stuff, and to take the at-bat, keep the line moving, and obviously with Russell [Martin], he’s a guy that’s been in that spot many times over, and it just seems like everyday there is somebody different that you are pouring Gatorade on.
But, it’s really good to see, it’s great from our ball club, their desire, and will to play 27 outs.
The game was started by — Big Red himself — Dustin May who delivered an electric performance on the YouTube big stage. Roberts offered up his thoughts on Dustin May:
Dustin today, it was really exciting, we talked about before the game, what he needed to do, as far as sequencing, pitching to different quadrants, strike throwing, and he checked all those boxes. He and Rick had a great game plan. Russell implemented, and Dustin executed.
Dustin ended his second career outing with 5.2 innings pitched on the ledger, allowing only 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 7 and walking 1.
Big Red. Well, we have Redturn. Now it’s Big Red’s turn. Anyway, solid game for our next rookie. Another positive non trade. Maybe we get him a W his next appearance. This team is better than the 2017 edition. New and improved. Let’s take this one all the way!
Fire bush
It was good to see Russell make a big contribution to win a game. When he was reacquired during the off season, I was hoping he would thrive, maybe hit at least .260 and get marginal playing time. Despite my hopes, he hasn’t been able to contribute much with his bat, so just getting that seeing eye hit was huge for him. My compliments to “Dave” for letting him bat in that situation, I would probably have pinch hit Negron or someone else, just hoping for a positive result. The bench is weak right now and maybe that had something to do with his decision making. We have seen him stay with Martin and Barnes hitting in big situations during the late innings before and it rarely works out.
Watching Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin these last couple of games, maybe Friedman’s hope that some of our young guns can make the post season roster pitching as relievers will work out. I had been lobbying for Dustin May to be brought up for a couple of months now, but Gonsolin’s success has been a real surprise to me. Gonsolin has a nice splitter.
Lost in the box score……..Is it just me or has Max Muncy been working on his defensive skills? He has been playing some VERY impressive defense of late.
Bluz1st, he has and especially at the moment playing 2nd. But I was impressed to also see Will Smith come up big with a hit to give Russell that chance. IDK but honestly now, i would rather see Bellinger in RF, but he is a gold glove at 1st too. Just hope he does not re-injure that shoulder diving for a ball.
Paul…….I like him playing at first, but like him playing in right too. Prefer the outfield so teams are wary about taking the extra base and if they do attempt to run, it raises the impact Bellinger can have on the games outcome in our favor. But I have to admit that when he plays first, I feel better about the infield defense in general. We need three more Bellingers!!!! That being said, the injury worry is always there……I’m not sure playing first raises the risk, but I know how you feel about it.