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Dave Roberts Called Out an Unsung Hero After Dodgers' Game 3 Shutout Against Mets

Josh Wilson

Roberts and the Dodgers have a 2-1 lead in the NLCS after Wednesday's Game 3 win.
Roberts and the Dodgers have a 2-1 lead in the NLCS after Wednesday's Game 3 win. / Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
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The Los Angeles Dodgers put on a clinic in their first road game of the NLCS on Wednesday night, shutting out the New York Mets 8-0 to take a 2-1 series lead. There is still plenty of baseball left to be played, but the team to take a Game 3 in a knotted seven-game series gains an edge, to be sure.

Following the win, Fangraphs simulates that the Dodgers have a 77.6% chance of winning the LCS, up 15.8% from before Game 3.

In a shutout win with so many runs scored and eight runners left on base for New York, there's no shortage of people to credit, but the first people looked to are the pitching staff and offensive contributors. Shohei Ohtani (3) and Enrique Hernandez (2) both batted multiple runs in, while the five Dodgers pitchers (Walker Buehler starting) combined for a 0.889 WHIP.

Roberts made sure to credit catcher Will Smith, who will not get many of the headlines.

"This entire postseason I think Will Smith is doing a fantastic job catching the baseball, calling the game. Not trying to get too predictable, and appreciating the game score and all that stuff. He's done a great job with the starters, relievers. It was just game management."

Roberts specifically pointed to one of the crucial moments of Game 3 where Buehler struck Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor—who has one of New York's three RBI in this series—out in the second inning with the bases loaded. The pitch called was a knuckle curve, a pitch Buehler threw 16 times in Game 3. Here's how they panned out between 10 strikes and six balls:

Outcome

Swinging Strike

6

Called Strike

3

Foul

1

In Dirt

2

Called Ball

4

Here's how that seven-pitch at-bat against Lindor played out:

Pitch number

Pitch type

Velocity (MPH)

Outcome

1

Knuckle Curve

77.9

Ball

2

Fastball

95

Swinging Strike

3

Knuckle Curve

78.8

Swinging Strike

4

Knuckle Curve

78.2

Ball (dirt)

5

Fastball

95.1

Foul

6

Fastball

94.5

Ball

7

Knuckle Curve

78

Swinging Strike

Buehler and Smith attacked the at-bat with a mix of velocity and the slow, deceptive movement of the knuckle curve, oscillating back and forth. The clinching knuckle curve was precariously placed, close to middle-middle in the strike zone, but Lindor swang just over the top of it as the ball dropped. A gutsy call from Smith to be sure, but one that shows he had all the confidence in the world of Buehler's ability.

It also pushed the Mets' win probability down 8.2% to 27.9%, a massive at-bat for the second inning that positioned the Dodgers for success the rest of the night.

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Josh Wilson
JOSH WILSON

Josh Wilson is the news director of the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in 2024, he worked for FanSided in a variety of roles, most recently as senior managing editor of the brand’s flagship site. He has also served as a general manager of Sportscasting, the sports arm of a start-up sports media company, where he oversaw the site’s editorial and business strategy. Wilson has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from SUNY Cortland and a master’s in accountancy from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. He loves a good nonfiction book and enjoys learning and practicing Polish. Wilson lives in Chicago but was raised in upstate New York. He spent most of his life in the Northeast and briefly lived in Poland, where he ate an unhealthy amount of pastries for six months.

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