The cost of the Dodgers’ reluctance to use their top relievers in “minus” games, as manager Dave Roberts likes to say, became clear in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series.
A slim early-game deficit ballooned to an insurmountable seven-run hole when the Dodgers left Jack Flaherty in for a five-run third inning. Even though the offense responded by scoring five times after that, the New York Mets’ lead had grown too big for the Dodgers to complete a come-from-behind win.
“You have to kind of remain steadfast in how you use your pitchers,” Roberts argued.