SAN DIEGO — The disaster unfolded in slow motion, a train wreck of an inning, of a playoff series, of a once-promising and historic 2022 season.
The Los Angeles Dodgers entered the seventh inning Saturday night leading the San Diego Padres by three runs.
They ended the frame trailing by two, a combination of bad execution, puzzling decision-making and relentless Padres hitting paving the way for a 5-3 loss in Game 4 of the National League Division Series that eliminated the Dodgers from the playoffs.
In their worst nightmares, they couldn’t have concocted a more harrowing scene.
It began with a walk by newly inserted reliever Tommy Kahnle, then a first-pitch single from Padres postseason hero Trent Grisham.
It escalated when Austin Nola reached on a single to second base, scoring one run and putting the tying tallies aboard.
It got worse when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who had said earlier in the day all of his top relievers were available, bypassed his best one in Evan Phillips to instead summon Yency Almonte, who promptly gave up an RBI double to Ha-Seong Kim and RBI single to Juan Soto that tied the score.
And it culminated in a moment that will sting throughout the winter, when Roberts made a mid-at-bat pitching change with Jake Cronenworth at the plate, only to watch Alex Vesia give up a two-run single that broke the tie and ultimately decided the game.
That 2019 loss in Game 5 of the NLDS?
It suddenly has company.
This wasn’t supposed to happen to this year’s Dodgers team. Not after they won 111 games. Not after they talked about this being their most talented lineup, their deepest bullpen, their most complete team of the entire last decade.
It especially wasn’t supposed to happen after Roberts brashly guaranteed a World Series title before the start of the season, when he said on a radio show that the Dodgers would be champions so long as “we play a full season and there is a postseason.”
That day, Roberts added a caveat about the need for healthy starting pitching. But in their disastrous Game 4 loss at Petco Park on Saturday, it was a capitulation by the bullpen that sealed their three games to one defeat in the best of five division series.
After being a rare strength for the team during the first three games of the series, three relievers combined to give up five runs on five hits and two walks in the fateful seventh inning.
Kahnle lacked command. Almonte lacked sharpness. And Vesia, inserted in a 1-0 count against Cronenworth after Almonte had started the at-bat, couldn’t escape either, throwing a 2-and-2 slider just off the plate that Cronenworth roped into center to give the Padres their first lead.
Early on, the Dodgers seemed in control.
For the first time since Game 2, they had a lead, striking for two runs in the third inning thanks to a long-awaited outburst from the three superstars at the top of their lineup.
For the first time since Game 1, it included a hit with runners in scoring position, with Freddie Freeman’s two run double up the right field line snapping a woeful 0-for-20 stretch in such situations.
And, for the first time all series, they finally looked more like the team that set a franchise wins record and entered October as World Series favorites, riding a superb five-inning start from Tyler Anderson to keep 45,131 at Petco Park silent.
But then, they squandered an opportunity in the seventh.
After loading the bases with no outs after a walk by Mookie Betts, a bunt single from Trea Turner (who played despite suffering a strained finger in his throwing hand in Game 3), and hit by pitch of Freeman, the Dodgers had the chance to break things open.
Will Smith made it 3-0 with a deep sacrifice fly to left.
Max Muncy and Justin Turner followed him to the plate.
However, both recorded outs. The Dodgers’ lead remained stuck at three. And 30 minutes later, the team’s season had come unraveled in a half-inning that also featured questionable decision-making.
Phillips was available — he pitched the eighth — but remained in the bullpen until the very end of the seventh inning, when it was too late.
After Almonte entered the game, no one else began warming for several minutes, with Vesia getting up only after Almonte recorded the first out in the inning.
And when Vesia entered the game, it was clear he wasn’t at his best, following the Cronenworth single with a walk to Wil Myers — the ninth batter of the inning — before striking out Jurickson Profar to retire the side.
The Dodgers last chance came in the ninth inning, when their top three faced Padres closer Josh Hader.
However, after an all-too-symbolic downpour of rain, Betts struck out on a called check swing, Turner did the same with an empty hack, and Freeman went down swinging as well, sending the Dodgers slinking into an unexpectedly early winter hiatus — a blank look of disbelief plastered across their faces.
