The Dodgers Go With an Opener Today vs Padres
NOW it’s starting to feel like October! Fall is in the air, pumpkin spice lattes are back, and the Dodgers are going with an opener unnecessarily.
Well, mostly unnecessarily.
Following Wednesday night’s win over the Padres, Dave Roberts revealed the club’s intention to run Brusdar Graterol out to start the regular season finale in San Diego on Thursday evening.
Brusdar Graterol will open for the #Dodgers tomorrow. Andrew Heaney expected to get the bulk innings.
— Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) September 29, 2022
When you sound it out, the move makes sense. Dave has preached throwing pitchers in “certain lanes” more often as the season winds down. And, really, any lane where the homer-prone Andrew Heaney can miss a playoff team’s 1-2-3 hitters at least one time is a good lane.
Heaney will follow Graterol in the “bulk role” — a move familiar to Dodgers fans for sure. Last October, Corey Knebel was the go-to opener for LA in two series for Roberts. Go-to meaning more than once, and two series meaning I’m embellishing Knebel starting/opening game 5 of the NLDS and game 1 of the NLCS.
Today, Graterol gets the ball against a team he’s very familiar with but has had some struggles against. He has a lifetime ERA of 10.13 against the Padres in 10 games facing them.
It’s noteworthy that in three previous outings as opener, Brusdar has allowed 3 earned runs over 3.1 innings.
First pitch is set for 6:40 on SportsNet LA.
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Heaney needs some a quality innings to make the postseason roster. Even as a bullpen member. There isn’t a lot of demand for relievers that serve up home runs on a regular basis. Time is running out.