Dylan Cease did not get out of the fourth inning on Saturday. He threw just 82 pitches.
The Padres are hoping that works to his advantage as they ask him to pitch on three days’ rest for the first time in his career.
“We’ll see how many bullets he’s got,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “Had his head around it and discussed it with him and he was enthusiastic about it.”
Cease allowed five runs on six hits and two walks in 3⅓ innings on Saturday. He struck out five.
The Dodgers will counter with a bullpen game — “I see one of our relievers starting,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, declining to tip his hand — after Walker Buehler threw five innings in Game 3.
Anthony Banda recorded four outs, Daniel Hudson turned in two and Michael Kopech pitched a scoreless eighth.
One advantage, Roberts said, is the Dodgers’ leverage arms, minus Kopech, have not been used since Saturday’s 7-5 win in a game started by Cease.
Shildt waited until after Tuesday’s game to announce Cease as his starting pitcher.
Michael King pitched just five innings on Tuesday, leaving Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam, Tanner Scott and Robert Suarez to pick up the final four frames.
Estrada and Adam each turned a scoreless inning, Scott started the eighth with a strikeout of Shohei Ohtani before Freeman’s single led Shildt to call on Suarez for a four-out save.
It was Suarez’s first appearance of the series.
“I just loved the efficiency of our relievers today,” Shildt said. “Estrada really good. Adam really good. Scott threw the ball exceptionally well … and Suarez was excellent.”
Shildt added: “(Suarez will) be ready to rock. All of them will be ready to go.”
Not so fast
With Ha-Seong Kim missing the rest of the postseason for a season-ending shoulder surgery and the Padres’ injured shortstop hiring super agent Scott Boras, the odds of either side exercising an $8 million mutual option for 2024 have decreased exponentially.
Which means the Padres figure to take a long look at the position for the 2025 season.
In-house options abound, with Xander Bogaerts back at his original position through the remainder of the postseason and Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth and Jackson Merrill all having history on the left side of the diamond.
Of that trio, it was Merrill, a shortstop until spring training, who’s been seen taking grounders at shortstop as recently as Monday’s off-day, but don’t read anything into that just yet.
Players often take grounders to stay fresh, especially baseball junkies like Merrill.
He’s not closing the book on anything, but …
“I just take them there now for fun, just keep my hands kind of smooth and keep my footwork kind of good,” Merrill said. “But whatever happens, happens. If they want to throw me back in the infield I’m ready. At the same time, I’m happy where I’m at.”
Hometown … heel?
Before his college days at Stanford, Tommy Edman prepped at La Jolla Country Day. The Cardinals ultimately drafted Edman in the sixth round in 2016, brought him to the majors in 2019 and employed him on the 2020 wild-card roster that they brought to Petco Park that fall.
Whatever allegiances may or may not have been lingering for the hometown ballclub clearly went out the window when the Cardinals sent the 29-year-old utility man to the rival Dodgers in July as part of a three-team deal with the Chicago White Sox.
Obviously.
“I’ve got a lot of friends who are still Padres fans,” Edman said with a laugh before the series shifted to San Diego. “I’m hoping we can beat them so I can talk trash to them this offseason.”
Notable
- Former Padres catcher Jorge Alfaro, who made “LFGSD!” the 2022 team’s rallying cry as the Padres advanced to the National League Championship Series, threw out the first pitch.
- Dodgers SS Miguel Rojas, dealing with a torn adductor muscle coming into the series, exited in the top of the third inning in obvious discomfort. Meantime, 1B Freddie Freeman (ankle) played seven innings in the field and exited for pinch-runner Chris Taylor after his two-out single in the top of the eighth.
- 2B Jake Cronenworth was 0-for-13 to start the postseason before an infield single in the Padres’ six-run second inning. He finished 2-for-3 with a run scored.
- Before the game, Major League Baseball approved the Dodgers replacing RHP Michael Grove on the roster with right-hander Ben Casparius. Grove allowed a run in the eighth inning Sunday. Roberts said Grove is dealing with a shoulder injury, which was confirmed after a full review of the medical information by MLB Medical Director Gary Green. Grove cannot rejoin the Dodgers’ roster until after the National League Championship Series.
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