Dodgers' moves don't pay off this time as they drop Game 1 of NLCS vs. Cubs
CHICAGO — In a nearly silent, quickly emptying Los Angeles Dodgers clubhouse, right-hander Joe Blanton sat at a table picking on his food and trying to make sense of what had transpired in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Blanton, one of the Dodgers’ most effective relievers all season, had been nearly perfect in his five innings in the previous round, so he seemed like the right pitcher to take over after his club had forged a 3-3 tie in the top half of the eighth in Game 1 of the NL Championship Series.
And yet, in a town much too familiar with goats, it was Blanton who was fitted for the horns in the Dodgers’ defeat, after he served up a Miguel Montero grand slam that powered the Chicago Cubs to an 8-4 victory Saturday.
Several managerial machinations — including two intentional walks in the eighth — had resulted in the Cubs having the bases loaded with two outs and Blanton pitching to Montero, a lefty pinch-hitter. They had faced each other on Aug. 26 and Blanton struck Montero out on a slider, so when he got ahead in the count 0-2, it wasn’t hard to pick what pitch to go with.
Only this time Blanton’s slider stayed in Montero’s wheelhouse, and he clobbered it well over the right-field wall to put the Cubs ahead to stay. It was the first time a pinch-hit grand slam ever decided a postseason game.
“I don’t hang a lot of sliders. I happened to hang that one,’’ said Blanton, adding that he intended for the pitch to drop into the dirt or close to Montero’s back foot. “It stayed over for a strike. Oh-and-two, I don’t want to throw a strike there.’’
At the table in the clubhouse, manager Dave Roberts and bullpen coach Josh Bard talked to Blanton, who was in disbelief that the pitch had failed to do what he intended.
If not quite disbelief, Roberts’ maneuvers elicited some second-guessing.
The rookie skipper seemed to have the magic touch in the Dodgers’ hard-fought victory over the Washington Nationals in the division series. The decision to start Clayton Kershaw on three days’ rest in Game 4 contributed to a crucial win, as did the risky move of bringing him back in relief two days later in the clincher. In that same game, Roberts gambled by calling on closer Kenley Jansen in the seventh, and he kept the Nationals off the board.
On Saturday, Roberts gambled again. First he had Blanton intentionally walk Jason Heyward with a runner on second and one out in the eighth so he could face the hot-hitting Javier Baez, who made him look good by flying out.
The next intentional walk, to pinch-hitter Chris Coghlan, didn’t work out nearly as well. It was an unorthodox move because first base wasn’t open and the walk moved the potential winning run to third base, but Roberts wanted to force the Cubs to use a pinch-hitter for closer extraordinaire Aroldis Chapman, who was due up next.
With Montero getting the call off the bench, Roberts had the option to bring in one of his lefty relievers, Luis Avilan or Grant Dayton, but opted against it.
“If I go to a left-hander they bring in (Willson) Contreras. So, right there there's really no matchup advantage,’’ Roberts said. “It's more of, I trust Joe, I've trusted him all year long, he's been great for us, and he got ahead 0-2 and left a pitch up.’’
Blanton, who also yielded a leadoff double to Ben Zobrist and a solo homer to Dexter Fowler in the eighth, said he felt good about his chances of getting a left-handed hitter out, and with good reason. Lefties batted just .186 with a .546 OPS against him this year, compared to .198 and .587 for right-handers.
However, Montero’s career OPS facing righties is more than 100 points higher (.787-to-.648) than vs. lefties.
“I never thought they were going to leave that right-hander out, and I don’t think Joe (Maddon, the Cubs’ manager) did either,’’ Montero said. “I kind of looked in a couple of times and I didn’t see the manager come out and I’m like, ‘Yeah, awesome,’ because I was ready to hit.’’
Roberts also reasoned that with Chapman out of the game, the Cubs would turn to former closer Hector Rondon, who’s not nearly as formidable. Sure enough, Rondon gave up two hits and a run in the ninth, escaping the inning when Chase Utley lined into a game-ending double play.
The Dodgers found some solace in that small outburst, and even more so in their ability to claw back from an early 3-0 deficit and tie the game in the eighth on Adrian Gonzalez’s two-run single off Chapman’s 102 mph heater.
“They had their big inning in the eighth. They answered back; that’s what great teams do,’’ Gonzalez said. “But we answered right back in the ninth. Obviously we couldn’t get five, but we’re here to fight till the end.’’
GALLERY: DODGERS-CUBS, GAME 1