Besides Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers' Bullpen Were Heroes Against Yankees

The Dodgers bullpen continues to dominate despite things not breaking their way as of late.

May 3, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Michael Grove (78) reacts after getting a third out of the eleventh inning against the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports / Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

The Dodgers bullpen has been excellent all year. They currently rank 3rd in baseball in ERA (3.02) and 2nd in WHIP (1.07) despite being the 6th most used unit (244.1 IP).

The last two days especially, they have faced more adversity than normal. On Thursday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Dodgers played some of their worst defense all year.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts voiced his displeasure with their defensive showing. It led to higher pitch counts and using more arms from the bullpen in an 11-7 victory - the final score being much closer than it should have been.

As you might expect, Dave Roberts was quite unhappy with the Dodgers’ defense tonight. “We’ll take the win,” he said, but called it “by far” the team’s worst defensive performance of the year

— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) June 7, 2024

Then, the primetime matchup against the New York Yankees lived up to its billing and went into extra innings. Yoshinobu Yamamoto dazzled in his start, pitching seven innings of shutout baseball. Still, though, the Dodgers had to use five more bullpen arms as the game finished in the 11th.

The bullpen was stellar on Friday night. They held the vaunted Yankees offense to only a single run in four innings of work. That run came in the bottom of the 11th when an Aaron Judge single scored the ghost runner.

Daniel Hudson, Michael Grove, and Blake Treinen all had to pitch back-to-back games because of the debacle on Thursday. Evan Phillips was not available because he had to throw 30 pitches in the 9th inning of that 11-7 victory.

If the Dodgers want to preserve bullpen arms, they have the right guys starting games two and three against the Yankees. Gavin Stone pitches first and he has gone at least six innings in six of his last seven starts.

Then, the Dodgers shifted the rotation around to allow Tyler Glasnow to face the Yankees on Sunday. Glasnow has completed six innings of work in nine of his 13 starts this season.

As an added bonus, Glasnow has performed well against the Yankees in the past when he was in the division with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees have a lifetime .450 OPS against the 30-year-old at Yankee Stadium.