Dodgers: The Bullpen Blueprint Comes Together in Sunday’s Win

The Dodgers are in the middle of their push for a sixth straight NL West division title, but their bullpen blueprint remains a work in progress.  In Sunday’s win, the plan came together on what the end of games should look like for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers main trade deadline need was to find one more capable reliever to help bridge the gap to Kenley Jansen.  Instead, the Dodgers chose to once again reinforce their offense with Brian Dozier although the club did pick up John Axford in a trade with the Blue Jays.

Axford made his way into Saturday’s debacle and his Dodger debut was nothing worth remembering.  Axford was knocked around in just a third of an inning and gave up six earned runs.  While John Axford may rebound and turn himself into a late-inning reliever for the Dodgers but the odds of that happening are very slim.

The two key cogs to help bridge the gap to Kenley Jansen are Scott Alexander and Dylan Floro.  Both relievers were acquired from losing teams, in moves that flew under the radar but both trades are looking more important by the game.  Floro was more recently acquired and in ten plus innings with the Dodgers, he has posted a 2.53 ERA and an opponent’s average of just .114.

Scott Alexander’s Dodger start was not as smooth. He was acquired prior to the season and struggled from the start which led to his demotion earlier this season.  Since returning from Triple-A Oklahoma City, Alexander has pitched much better and he has seen his velocity go up a few ticks.

Earlier this season when Scott Alexander pitched, it was almost guaranteed that the ball would be put in play against him.  Since his velocity has increased, contact has been less frequent and his results have been much better.

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Although Scott gave up two runs in his outing prior to Sunday, he has posted a 1.88 ERA and 0.98 WHIP in his last fifteen games pitched.  He is also striking out just over one batter per inning.  In today’s game, Alexander allowed a walk but induced an inning-ending double play to close out the eighth inning.

Dylan Floro was just as important in today’s win as he pitched 1 2/3 innings without allowing a single hit and struck out two Astros.  Floro came into the game in the sixth inning when Walker Buehler worked himself into trouble and finished the inning to get Walker Buehler his fifth win of the season.

While the front office has said they will play the late game matchups rather than committing to certain relievers, the two best relievers besides Jansen are Scott Alexander and Dylan Floro.  The Dodgers need to stick with some combination of Floro and Alexander for the seventh and eighth innings because they are the two relievers who have proven themselves reliable, and have the best “stuff” out of the bullpen among setup relievers.

The Dodgers have roughly two months of baseball left to try and sort out what they will do to get leads to Kenley Jansen.  Although the pen is still in tryout mode, the blueprint was set on Sunday, and that is to use Dylan Floro and Scott Alexander as the bridge to Kenley Jansen.