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LOS ANGELES —- One thing that has gone well in the last few weeks is the pitching of Tony Cingrani and Tony Watson, the two left-handed pitchers acquired by the Dodgers at the trade deadline.
Since August 22nd neither pitcher has given up a run. Cingrani has pitched in nine games and in 9⅓ innings, he’s allowed four hits and walked two. Cingrani has 13 strikeouts in that span.
Watson has pitched in ten games and in nine innings, he’s also allowed four hits and two walks. Watson has ten strikeouts in those nine games.
Roberts said that both of those pitchers have found their roles in the Dodger bullpen.
“I think they’ve both really kind of hit their stride, they’re both really consistent and they’ve both thrown the ball well,” Roberts said, “I see Tony Cingrani more as a lefty killer, I see more of Tony Watson as getting lefties and righties out, high leverage.”
“But I think the bullpen with Fields, Morrow, getting Petey [Baez] on track, Kenley, obviously Walker Buehler is back, he’ll be available today, the bullpen is in a pretty good situation.”
Tommy Lasorda meets with Roberts before game
Roberts met with the media a little later than normal today and it was because he had a chat with Tommy Lasorda.
“This was supposed to be a day that he was going to come to the ballpark and obviously with what we are going through, he just wanted to put his hand on my shoulder and say ‘I’ve been there, its going to be okay’ and kind of did a little thing through the clubhouse that Tommy can only do.”
“So it was good,” Roberts said, “it was some Dodgers’ history, it was just fun talking baseball.”
Starting lineups
| Pos | Rockies | Pos | Dodgers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Rockies | Pos | Dodgers |
| CF | Blackmon (L) | CF | Taylor |
| 2B | LeMahieu | SS | Seager (L) |
| 3B | Arenado | 3B | Turner |
| SS | Story | 1B | Bellinger (L) |
| RF | Gonzalez (L) | C | Barnes |
| 1B | Reynolds | RF | Granderson (L) |
| LF | Tapia (L) | 2B | Forsythe |
| P | Chatwood | LF | Ethier (L) |
| C | Wolters (L) | P | Hill (L) |
Roberts thoughts on what Granderson needs to do to improve
Roberts was asked about Curtis Granderson and his struggles since joining the Dodgers and why he thinks Granderson will be an asset to the team in the last weeks of the regular season.
“Curtis, number one is a pro, he comes ready to compete and help us win a baseball game, that right there is a big win,” Roberts said, “so now when you are looking at production, he needs to swing at strikes and take balls. I think that’s across the board with every hitter, I think there’s pitches in the strike zone that he’s not ending the at bat with fouling off, and there’s sometimes when he goes out of the strike zone, so once he can get back to being in the strike zone, the production will be better.”