Dave Roberts doomed Dodgers with decisions after Dustin May injury

Perhaps it’s just the losing streak talking (10-of-13 with what was supposed to be the deepest roster in baseball), but we’re not sure why Dave Roberts managed the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen one inning at a time after Dustin May’s injury.

Whether it can be justified or not, it didn’t work, leaving the most important innings of an extra-innings battle with the Brewers reasonably uncovered — or, at least, handled by two people who were not supposed to be with the big league club on May 1.

The Dodgers were certainly left in the lurch on the road Saturday when May departed with arm discomfort, leaving a winnable road game against a good Brewers team decidedly further into a gray area.

Based on the way this contest ended, though, it was clear that somebody along the way had to step up — or Roberts’ trigger was too quick on his more trustworthy bullpen arms.

When the dust settled, the Dodgers were left with lefty Alex Vesia, who made his MLB debut with the Miami Marlins last season, and Mitch White, a second-year pitcher on a back-to-back who’d thrown two innings the night prior.

Somehow, it fell on his tired shoulders to save the game.

Dave Roberts mismanaged the Los Angeles Dodgers’ bullpen after Dustin May’s injury.

Though the May injury was disastrous, somehow Roberts allowed the loss of his young ace to dictate the rest of his game plan, managing a 2-2 game as if there were no chance it would eventually trip into extra innings.

At some point along the way, a middle-innings arm has to go multiple innings in a game like this. Jimmy Nelson, who did throw two innings at the tail end of last Sunday’s tough loss to the Padres, seemed like a prime candidate to do so.

Instead, he threw the fourth inning and nothing else, skating by on just 18 pitches.

Once that decision was made, so was Roberts’ bad. He turned to Scott Alexander for an inning and Dennis Santana for one as well, wading into his late-inning arms in the seventh.

We’re not advocating for Victor González, Kenley Jansen or Blake Treinen throwing over an inning in this early-season contest (though it would’ve been nice for Treinen to man the tenth with the ghost runner on base…). We’re just saying that a game like this required a bit of thinking ahead after May’s departure altered the entire proposed plan, and Roberts set up an extra-innings disaster with a quick trigger in the middle innings.

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