The Los Angeles Dodgers won’t have a key veteran in their starting lineup for Game 5 of their National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres on Friday.
Manager Dave Roberts said Thursday that shortstop Miguel Rojas, who’s dealing with an adductor muscle injury, will not be in the lineup. Rojas could be available off the bench to pinch hit.
First baseman Freddie Freeman is attempting to play through a sprained ankle that caused him to miss Game 4 on Wednesday in San Diego, but Roberts predicted Freeman would be available to start Friday.
Dave Roberts doesn’t imagine Miguel Rojas will start Game 5. “Maybe to pinch hit.”
Freddie Freeman? “he’ll be in there.”
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) October 10, 2024
The Dodgers won Game 4 without either veteran, beating the Padres on their home field to force a winner-take-all Game 5 at Dodger Stadium. The 8-0 win was the Dodgers’ largest in the best-of-five National League Division Series.
Freeman is 3-for-11 with a stolen base in the series, despite his injury. Rojas is 2-for-8 but was ostensibly slowed when he failed to record an out trying to turn a double play on a routine ground ball in Game 3.
Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Tommy Edman, a switch-hitter, has filled in for Rojas at shortstop at various points in the series. The Dodgers used three different center fielders in Game 4 alone — Kiké Hernández, Chris Taylor and rookie Andy Pages. Roberts would not say which of the three he’ll pencil in to his Game 5 lineup.
Veteran right-hander Yu Darvish is starting Game 5 for the Padres.
Who Will the Dodgers Start in Game 5 of the NLDS?
Roberts declined to announce his starting pitcher for the critical game. He said that right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who started Game 1, will figure into the team’s plans. A bullpen game is also a possibility, the manager said.
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The Dodgers swapped Yamamoto and Jack Flaherty’s turns in the rotation prior to Game 1 so that both pitchers could be available in case the series went the distance.
The bullpen game formula Roberts deployed in Game 4 was the Dodgers’ most effective in the series. Although eight pitchers were deployed in service of the shutout, Roberts said “six or seven” relief pitchers would be available in Game 5.
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As for Yamamoto, Roberts said the Dodgers were able to “clean some things up” in his delivery after Game 1, after which the manager suggested the rookie pitcher was tipping pitches.
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