Dodgers: Dave Roberts Missed Challenge Opportunity on Crucial Play Against Giants

Los Angeles couldn't get out of their own way in another loss against San Francisco, but one play, in particular, stood out from the rest.

After a second consecutive loss versus the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers are now 4-6 in the month of June. This is not the production that is expected out of the star-studded roster, and frustration is starting to set in for the team and its manager. 

Saturday afternoon's game was especially frustrating for Los Angeles, partly because of an inability to hit with runners on base (14 LOB), but also because of small details that could have made their offensive futility irrelevant. 

In a game where the Dodgers' offense couldn't get anything going, they entered the bottom of the 8th inning only down one run. Dave Roberts decided to go with his closer to try and keep things close, but Craig Kimbrel promptly loaded the bases without retiring a single hitter. What happened next would wind up being the decisive blow that cost LA the win. 

This ball appeared to hit Brandon Crawford's foot but was ruled a wild pitch. The play was not reviewed and the run scored would end up as the winning run pic.twitter.com/KrC3VYrmZD

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 12, 2022

The Dodgers would wind up scoring one more run on a solo homer by Freddie Freeman in the ninth, making this play mean that much more. And while it's easy to say that the run doesn't score if Kimbrel doesn't throw it away in the first place, they still had a chance to call it back by challenging the call. 

As you can see in the clip above, there was some confusion as to whether the call could be reviewed. This wasn't because it was a non-reviewable play (the umpire called it a swinging strike), it was because the Dodgers did not challenge it in time. 

Dave Roberts said they didn’t have a good view from the dugout, so it was actually Trea Turner yelling in to the dugout to get them to ask to review it. By then, their challenge window had expired (the play is challengeable; Dave Roberts said he hadn’t seen the replay yet). https://t.co/auOSpkfTE6

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) June 12, 2022

Had Roberts called for the challenge earlier on, the play would have been reviewed and likely reversed. This doesn't mean that the Giants wouldn't have scored, as they did still have the bases loaded with no outs. It would have, however, given the team another opportunity to get out of the inning. 

Bad luck always seems to find you when you're already down, and the Dodgers have had their fair share of it in the month of June. Still, this team is too talented to stay down for long. Moments like these are where it's important to remember the words of the late Tommy Lasorda: “No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are, you’re going to win one-third of your games. It’s the other third that makes the difference.”

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