The playoffs began with Blake Treinen save a shaky Dodgers bullpen, with the 36-year-old right-hander replacing Michael Kopech and escaping a two-on-one-out eighth-inning jam and throwing 39 pitches for a five-out save in Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres.
Saturday evening, it was time for revenge, with the left-hander Alex Vesia toss Treinen a lifeline after Treinen gave up a run, gave up two more singles and hit a batter and pushed his pitch count to 33 as the Dodgers came dangerously close to blowing a three-run lead in Game 2 of the World Series.
Vesia, with anxiety coursing through the veins of 52,725 fans at Chavez Ravine, replaced Treinen with the bases loaded and two outs and needed only one pitch to retire pinch hitter Jose Trevino on a ball in the center of the field to save a 4-2 victory that gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“Blake limited the damage, he threw when he had to,” second baseman Kiké Hernández said. “He couldn’t finish the play, but like we were able to do the whole month of October, if someone doesn’t get the job done, someone will come behind him and pick him up, and that’s what that Vesia did.”
Left-handed Antoine Banda replaced superb starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto and got the final two outs of the seventh inning, Kopech retired the team to maintain a 4-1 lead in the eighth, and it looked like the Dodgers, who allowed just one hit in eight rounds, would win. .
But Treinen, who threw 22 pitches in 1⅓ inning of Friday night’s 6-3 victory in Game 1ran into immediate trouble when Juan Soto led off the ninth with a single to right field and took second on a wild pitch.
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Treinen struck out slugger Aaron Judge with a nasty 85 mph sweeper, but Giancarlo Stanton ripped a hard grounder out of the third base bag for an RBI single that made it 4-2. Jazz Chisholm Jr. capped eight pitches at bat with a single to right, and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
“I was living and dying on every pitch,” another reliever said Daniel Hudsonwho was watching from the left field bullpen. “This is as stressful as it gets, man.”
Hudson was in Treinen’s place. He was the closer for the 2019 World Series-winning Washington Nationals, he threw several jams in the postseason and he threw the last pitch of a Game 7 victory in Houston.
“I get more nervous watching than when I’m on the mound,” Hudson said. “Seriously, it sucks. I hate it, especially in these kinds of games, maybe because it’s kind of out of my control, and all I can do is sit there.
Treinen hardly trembled in his crampons, despite the mess he had gotten himself into.
“You definitely feel the competition, but I play this game for God, and no human pressure gets to me like it used to,” Treinen said. “I don’t really have the anxiety or stress right now.”
The more pitches Treinen threw, the more pressure there was directorDave Roberts to make a move, “but I just felt like Blake had enough stuff to get to (Anthony) Volpe in that spot,” Roberts said.
Treinen rewarded his manager’s trust by having Volpe chase down another sweeper for a strikeout, but he was clearly gassed. Roberts summoned Vesia to face left-handed catcher Austin Wells. Yankees manager Aaron Boone responded with right-handed hitting Trevino.
A 93 mph fastball to the inside half of the plate produced a routine fly ball to center field, and the Dodgers were celebrating a victory that moved them to within two wins of their eighth World Series title.
“It’s amazing,” Vesia said of his first World Series save. “It’s everything to me, playing on the biggest stage with the two best teams you could play for, the biggest franchises with the most history, the list goes on. It’s very special.
“And if you had told me 2 1/2 weeks ago, when I was taken out of the Padres game (because of a ribcage strain), I probably would have told you I probably wouldn’t be not here to launch and on the list. I can’t say enough about what the training staff did. Every day we get a little better and we’re doing well.
Vesia missed the NL Championship Series against the New York Mets, but showed in Game 1 of the World Series that he was fully recovered, striking out two of three batters in a scoreless eighth.
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“Getting that round was awesome,” Vesia said. “It was a huge confidence boost knowing that, one, my speed is there, and two, making sure I was controlling all of my throws in the zone.”
Vesia, who was 5-4 with a 1.76 ERA in 67 regular-season games, allowed just one hit, struck out six and walked one in 4⅓ of innings in five playoff games.
“In a perfect world you would like to finish your inning… but I had full confidence when (Vesia) came in,” Treinen said. “Ves has been our most contained guy all year, consistently. He’s had a phenomenal year and started some big things, and what he did tonight was no different.
“We have all been tested in battle. If one of us doesn’t succeed at the task at hand, someone else comes and picks them up. I’d like to think I’ve been able to do that for some of my teammates in the past, as any of us have, and that’s why we’re a tight unit.
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This story was originally published in Los Angeles Times.
