Dodgers’ bullpen is a statistical mess. Here’s what’s working and what isn’t
A shaky Sunday night game in which the Dodgers’ top three relievers gave up all four runs did not totally obscure the recent good deeds of their beleaguered bullpen, but it was hard to see that progress through the fog of a 4-1 loss to the New York Yankees.
“If you would have asked me a few days ago,” manager Dave Roberts said in response to a question about the overall performance of his bullpen, “I would have said fantastic.”
The numbers tell a different story. The Dodgers, who open a six-game trip to Cincinnati and Philadelphia with Tuesday night’s game against the Reds, entered Monday with a 4.64 bullpen earned-run average, which ranks 26th in the major leagues, a dramatic drop-off from the second-best 2.87 bullpen ERA of 2022.
Rookie Bobby Miller holds the Yankees scoreless, but a lack of offense and poor relief work lead to 4-1 loss. Dodgers have dropped 10 of their last 18.
Dodgers relievers have combined to yield the second-most home runs (32), the fifth-most hits (209) and earned runs (114) and the sixth-highest average (.246) in the majors this season.
But those numbers are heavily skewed by four relievers who have struggled in mostly low-leverage situations — Phil Bickford, who had a 7.33 ERA and gave up five homers in 23 games before going on the injured list because of lower-back tightness Saturday, Alex Vesia (7.62 ERA in 16 games), Yency Almonte (6.75 ERA, four homers in 25 games) and Andre Jackson (7.98 ERA, five homers in six games).
The more reliable work of the team’s higher-leverage relievers helped the Dodgers go 18-10 in May despite the loss of starters Dustin May and Julio Urías to injuries and the continued struggles of Noah Syndergaard and 35-25 this season — good for a first-place tie with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West.
Right-hander Evan Phillips is 1-1 with a 1.99 ERA and seven saves in 23 games, striking out 26 and walking six in 22⅔ innings, and he gave up one earned run in 17⅔ innings of 17 games before being nicked for a run in the eighth inning Sunday night.
Left-hander Caleb Ferguson is 3-0 with a 2.14 ERA and two saves in 24 games, striking out 25 and walking seven in 21 innings, and he gave up one earned run in 16 innings of 19 games before giving up a two-run homer to Anthony Volpe in the ninth inning Sunday.
Right-hander Brusdar Graterol is 2-2 with a 1.82 ERA and three saves in 26 games, striking out 21 and walking three in 24⅔ innings, but he committed costly throwing errors that led to tiebreaking runs in his last two appearances, against the Yankees on Sunday and the Washington Nationals last Wednesday.
Veteran right-hander Shelby Miller has navigated through some command issues to add middle-relief depth, going 1-0 with a 2.77 ERA in 22 games, with 26 strikeouts and 17 walks in 26 innings.
Almonte appears to have righted himself after a rocky start, throwing six scoreless innings in his last six games, and Victor Gonzalez, who is 1-2 with a 2.81 ERA in 16 games since a promotion from triple A in late April, has provided depth from the left side.
“Today wasn’t a good one,” Roberts said after Sunday night’s loss, “but I do feel like we’re trending in the right direction. I don’t know the numbers as far as recency, but I do know they’re throwing the baseball well.”
The effectiveness of Ferguson and Graterol has allowed Roberts to deploy Phillips, his best reliever, as more of a fireman than closer, using him to put out hot spots and face the toughest parts of opposing lineups from the fifth through ninth innings.
Phillips entered the fifth inning of an eventual 8-6 win in Atlanta on May 22 with a 6-4 lead and worked his way through the middle of the Braves’ order. The following day, he threw a scoreless eighth inning against the top of the Braves’ order to protect a 5-1 lead. The Dodgers scored three runs in the ninth for an 8-1 win.
Last Tuesday night, Phillips was summoned with two on , two outs and the Dodgers clinging to a 4-3 lead over Washington in the seventh inning. Phillips got cleanup batter Joey Meneses to ground out and retired the side in order in the eighth. The Dodgers scored five runs over the final two innings of a 9-3 win.
The Dodgers are scoring more runs than last season and are a better team despite losing talented Trea Turner, Cody Bellinger and Justin Turner.
“It’s certainly a luxury, and it’s a credit to the other guys that I feel can finish the game if needed,” Roberts said. “To have Evan’s buy-in and deploy him in a big spot makes the most sense.”
Phillips had settled into more of a traditional closing role in late April, and he had five saves in five opportunities from April 30 to May 12, but shifting to a fireman’s role was not a problem. He filled that exact role for the Dodgers last season, when he went 7-3 with a 1.14 ERA in 64 games.
“We communicate really well, and we know what’s expected of us each and every day,” Phillips said. “Sometimes it’s the fifth inning, sometimes it’s the seventh, sometimes it’s the ninth. My routine is pretty interchangeable, and I can get ready whenever that role is communicated, so it hasn’t really been that difficult to adjust day to day.
“Early in the year, when we were all working out our kinks and going through our own personal struggles as relievers, it was a little bit tougher to deploy our guys. Now that everyone’s building and trending in the right direction and throwing the ball relatively well, it’s easier to put us in our most advantageous spot.”
Roger Craig, who pitched for the Dodgers in the 1950s and ‘60s before embarking on a successful coaching and managerial career, has died at 93.
Roberts thought the best spot for Phillips on Sunday night was the eighth inning of a 1-1 game with the top of the Yankees’ order due up. Phillips got Gleyber Torres to ground out but said he got “a little too cute” with a full-count fastball to Anthony Rizzo, who took the outside pitch for ball four.
Phillips “caught too much of the plate” with a 2-and-2 sweeper to Giancarlo Stanton, who crushed a double to left-center field to put runners on second and third. Oswaldo Cabrera’s ensuing RBI groundout gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead.
“It was a hard day — it’s going to happen — but we trust ourselves to go get that stretch of hitters,” Phillips said. “It stinks to lose that one, but we fully expect to pick right back up, go to Cincinnati and expect better results.”
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