continued:
Pedro Báez
Báez took the ball for the Dodgers to begin the fifth. It was his first appearance since he melted down in Game 4 of the World Series, surrendering the lead twice on home runs in consecutive innings. Part of that was the fault of Roberts, who for some reason told Báez he was done after meltdown No. 1 before changing his mind and putting him back in the game before meltdown No. 2.
Báez is the only player left from the 2013 Dodgers team that began this run of NL West dominance besides Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen. Until Tuesday night, he was best known as the guy who allowed 75 of 76 inherited playoff runners to score, all of them belonging to Kershaw (at least it felt that way). But with the Dodgers trailing by a run, Báez came in to face the No. 9 hitter in the Rays’ lineup, Mike Zunino. He struck him out. He got leadoff hitter Ji-man Choi to hit a weak popup to Turner.
With two outs, Arozarena stepped into the box and, with two strikes, singled on a high changeup. That was fine. It wasn’t a home run. When Roberts came to take the ball, Báez had made it through the danger zone, leaving the game with two outs and a runner on first.
This could have been another playoff game of horrors for Báez in a career marked by them. How great it must have felt for him, then, to contribute to the best Dodgers bullpen effort since 1988. He will not be remembered as the guy who could have single-handedly stopped Kershaw’s postseason choker narrative before it had even started if he had just helped him out once or twice. He will forever be remembered as a World Series champion.
Victor Gonzalez
Roberts signaled for the left-handed Gonzalez to face the Rays’ No. 3 hitter, Austin Meadows. A rookie out of Mexico who had made his major-league debut just 11 weeks earlier, Gonzalez had been a revelation for the Dodgers, posting a 1.33 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings. He had already proved in Game 5 that the World Series spotlight wouldn’t faze him when he got Arozarena and Brandon Lowe to fly out with two runners on in the eighth inning.
When Gonzalez took the mound with two outs and a runner on first in the fifth inning of Game 6, the Dodgers only trailed 1-0. But with the way Snell was pitching, a larger deficit would feel almost insurmountable. He made quick work of Meadows, inducing a ground ball to Chris Taylor to strand Arozarena. After Snell set the Dodgers down in order in the bottom of the inning, Gonzalez went back out for the sixth. He struck out the side, all swinging.
Brusdar Graterol
To begin the seventh — after the Dodgers had taken a 2-1 lead with Snell out of the game — Roberts summoned Graterol, the 21-year-old right-hander who wasn’t even supposed to be on the Dodgers. In the first attempt to acquire Betts from the Red Sox, a three-team trade sent Graterol from the Twins to Boston, but the Red Sox pulled out of that deal at the last moment over supposed concerns over Graterol’s medical records. No matter. The Dodgers completed the Betts trade without the Twins, then dealt Kenta Maeda to Minnesota in a separate deal to obtain Graterol for themselves.
It worked out nicely. Graterol’s sinker averaged 99.3 mph in 2020, the fastest in all of baseball. And though the potential future closer does not yet strike out as many hitters as the club would like, it’s very difficult to square him up. He finished the season in the 96th percentile of pitchers in avoiding the barrels of hitters’ bats. In his previous two appearances in the World Series, he had not allowed a run.
Graterol got two quick outs before yielding a single to Zunino.
Julio Urías
Before Game 6, Dave Roberts told reporters that the only unavailable Dodgers pitchers were Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler and Urías. He lied. With a 2-1 lead in the seventh and only seven outs from the team’s first title since 1988, Roberts called on Urías even though he had started Game 4 and threw 80 pitches three days earlier. He proved he could handle closing out enormous games when he got the final nine outs of Game 7 of the NLCS a week earlier. But when he came into the game on Tuesday, he wasn’t expecting to pitch the last 2 1/3 innings of the 2020 season.
“I just focused on getting the one out, and little by little, I went batter by batter,” Urías said afterward.
Urías was signed out of Mexico as a 15-year-old on the same scouting trip that produced both Yasiel Puig and, as luck would have it, Gonzalez. The 24-year-old left-hander closed out the seventh and sailed through the top of the eighth — three up and three down.
Betts homered to give the Dodgers a precious insurance run and push the lead to 4-2. They would not need it. Urías got the first batter he faced in the ninth, Manuel Margot, on a lazy fly ball to Betts. He then struck out pinch hitter Mike Brousseau looking. After getting ahead of Adames in the count 0-2, Urías looked in to get the sign from Barnes for the franchise’s biggest pitch in nearly three decades. Would it be a slider in the dirt? A changeup away? Try a 97 mph fastball down the middle. The pitch froze Adames, who seemed to be as shocked as Dodgers fans that Urías threw it.
Barnes didn’t have to move his glove. Strike three. Urias dropped to his knees in celebration. Barnes put the ball in his back pocket and sprinted to the mound. The Dodgers poured out of the dugout and out of the bullpen and into a pile. The wait was over.
The Dodgers had their ace, Buehler, lined up to pitch Game 7. They didn’t need him. Somehow, some way, their bullpen patched together 7 1/3 innings of two-hit, shutout ball, striking out 12 and walking none to carry the Dodgers to the title.
Pedro Báez
Báez took the ball for the Dodgers to begin the fifth. It was his first appearance since he melted down in Game 4 of the World Series, surrendering the lead twice on home runs in consecutive innings. Part of that was the fault of Roberts, who for some reason told Báez he was done after meltdown No. 1 before changing his mind and putting him back in the game before meltdown No. 2.
Báez is the only player left from the 2013 Dodgers team that began this run of NL West dominance besides Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen. Until Tuesday night, he was best known as the guy who allowed 75 of 76 inherited playoff runners to score, all of them belonging to Kershaw (at least it felt that way). But with the Dodgers trailing by a run, Báez came in to face the No. 9 hitter in the Rays’ lineup, Mike Zunino. He struck him out. He got leadoff hitter Ji-man Choi to hit a weak popup to Turner.
With two outs, Arozarena stepped into the box and, with two strikes, singled on a high changeup. That was fine. It wasn’t a home run. When Roberts came to take the ball, Báez had made it through the danger zone, leaving the game with two outs and a runner on first.
This could have been another playoff game of horrors for Báez in a career marked by them. How great it must have felt for him, then, to contribute to the best Dodgers bullpen effort since 1988. He will not be remembered as the guy who could have single-handedly stopped Kershaw’s postseason choker narrative before it had even started if he had just helped him out once or twice. He will forever be remembered as a World Series champion.
Victor Gonzalez
Roberts signaled for the left-handed Gonzalez to face the Rays’ No. 3 hitter, Austin Meadows. A rookie out of Mexico who had made his major-league debut just 11 weeks earlier, Gonzalez had been a revelation for the Dodgers, posting a 1.33 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings. He had already proved in Game 5 that the World Series spotlight wouldn’t faze him when he got Arozarena and Brandon Lowe to fly out with two runners on in the eighth inning.
When Gonzalez took the mound with two outs and a runner on first in the fifth inning of Game 6, the Dodgers only trailed 1-0. But with the way Snell was pitching, a larger deficit would feel almost insurmountable. He made quick work of Meadows, inducing a ground ball to Chris Taylor to strand Arozarena. After Snell set the Dodgers down in order in the bottom of the inning, Gonzalez went back out for the sixth. He struck out the side, all swinging.
Brusdar Graterol
To begin the seventh — after the Dodgers had taken a 2-1 lead with Snell out of the game — Roberts summoned Graterol, the 21-year-old right-hander who wasn’t even supposed to be on the Dodgers. In the first attempt to acquire Betts from the Red Sox, a three-team trade sent Graterol from the Twins to Boston, but the Red Sox pulled out of that deal at the last moment over supposed concerns over Graterol’s medical records. No matter. The Dodgers completed the Betts trade without the Twins, then dealt Kenta Maeda to Minnesota in a separate deal to obtain Graterol for themselves.
It worked out nicely. Graterol’s sinker averaged 99.3 mph in 2020, the fastest in all of baseball. And though the potential future closer does not yet strike out as many hitters as the club would like, it’s very difficult to square him up. He finished the season in the 96th percentile of pitchers in avoiding the barrels of hitters’ bats. In his previous two appearances in the World Series, he had not allowed a run.
Graterol got two quick outs before yielding a single to Zunino.
Julio Urías
Before Game 6, Dave Roberts told reporters that the only unavailable Dodgers pitchers were Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler and Urías. He lied. With a 2-1 lead in the seventh and only seven outs from the team’s first title since 1988, Roberts called on Urías even though he had started Game 4 and threw 80 pitches three days earlier. He proved he could handle closing out enormous games when he got the final nine outs of Game 7 of the NLCS a week earlier. But when he came into the game on Tuesday, he wasn’t expecting to pitch the last 2 1/3 innings of the 2020 season.
“I just focused on getting the one out, and little by little, I went batter by batter,” Urías said afterward.
Urías was signed out of Mexico as a 15-year-old on the same scouting trip that produced both Yasiel Puig and, as luck would have it, Gonzalez. The 24-year-old left-hander closed out the seventh and sailed through the top of the eighth — three up and three down.
Betts homered to give the Dodgers a precious insurance run and push the lead to 4-2. They would not need it. Urías got the first batter he faced in the ninth, Manuel Margot, on a lazy fly ball to Betts. He then struck out pinch hitter Mike Brousseau looking. After getting ahead of Adames in the count 0-2, Urías looked in to get the sign from Barnes for the franchise’s biggest pitch in nearly three decades. Would it be a slider in the dirt? A changeup away? Try a 97 mph fastball down the middle. The pitch froze Adames, who seemed to be as shocked as Dodgers fans that Urías threw it.
Barnes didn’t have to move his glove. Strike three. Urias dropped to his knees in celebration. Barnes put the ball in his back pocket and sprinted to the mound. The Dodgers poured out of the dugout and out of the bullpen and into a pile. The wait was over.
The Dodgers had their ace, Buehler, lined up to pitch Game 7. They didn’t need him. Somehow, some way, their bullpen patched together 7 1/3 innings of two-hit, shutout ball, striking out 12 and walking none to carry the Dodgers to the title.
