Dodgers' bullpen cracks in 7-run 8th inning

SAN DIEGO -- After the Trade Deadline on Tuesday, the Dodgers continuously said they feel great about the chances this group has of making a run this October. Most of that belief comes from the versatility the club has both on offense and on the mound.

But in order for it to work at its best, of course, it’ll get decided on the field. And in an 8-3 loss to the Padres on Saturday night at Petco Park, the Dodgers’ bullpen imploded in a seven-run eighth inning.

• Game Story: Smith smacks 14th home run ▶️

“A team like that, any team, if you’re going to give them free bases, you’re going to give up bases by not making plays and things like that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It was really uncharacteristic. But, unfortunately, it was the end to a really good night through seven innings.”

Carrying a 3-1 lead into the eighth inning, the Dodgers appeared primed to take the first two games in what has shaped out to be an important August series between the two division rivals. Roberts turned to Yency Almonte, who has been one of the Dodgers’ high-leverage relievers, in the eighth inning.

Almonte, however, continued his recent tough stretch, allowing three runs in what turned out to be a sloppy eighth inning.

The Dodgers right-hander quickly jumped ahead 0-2 against Gary Sánchez before giving up a leadoff single that got past Chris Taylor at third base. Almonte then struck out Trent Grisham for the first out, but the inning turned for the worse after back-to-back walks to Ha-Seong Kim and Fernando Tatis Jr. to load the bases.

“With Yency, I really don’t have a good answer,” Roberts said. “He just wasn’t good. … He just completely lost command. It wasn’t a good one.”

Caleb Ferguson wasn’t able to clean up Almonte’s mess, also delivering a shaky outing. Ferguson was a victim of some bad luck as Juan Soto’s slow dribbler got past the mound and allowed him to record an RBI infield single. That play got even worse, however, with a bad decision from Kiké Hernández at second base.

Hernández, who said he thought had a chance to make the difficult play, threw the ball into the Padres’ dugout, allowing Kim to come around from second and score the game-tying run.

“I haven’t seen the replay to tell whether we had a play or not,” Hernández said. “Maybe tomorrow I’ll have an answer for you.”

The Dodgers didn’t have any answers for a lengthy Padres rally. Manny Machado’s two-run single gave San Diego a 5-3 lead, and the Padres went on to score three more times off Ferguson, putting the game away in a similar way the Dodgers punched in the eighth inning of Friday’s game.

Earlier, the Dodgers got 4 1/3 strong innings of bulk relief from Ryan Yarbrough in his Dodgers debut. Brusdar Graterol pitched 1 1/3 clean innings. Roberts was asked if he feels strongly about his bullpen hierarchy.

“I do,” Roberts said. “But with guys like Evan [Phillips], Brusdar, [Ryan] Brasier, you have guys like that and you just feel that you have to be mindful of their workload. … You can’t throw Evan in the eighth and ninth inning every night. You can’t throw Brasier every night. Graterol the same. I felt good about him going out there and we have to do a job.”

In order for the Dodgers to be at their best and for their roster versatility to pay off, they are going to need Almonte and Ferguson to be quality high-leverage relievers down the stretch. The Dodgers have seen both versions of those arms. When they’re good, they stabilize the bullpen. When they don’t, the entire plan falls apart.

The Dodgers just hope it happens only now and not in October.

“It’s pretty easy in my chair. You give guys opportunities, and they play themselves into their own roles,” Roberts said. “I’ll leave it at that.”