Big HR on bobblehead night -- all in a (birth)day's work for Dodgers' Smith

LOS ANGELES -- Manager Dave Roberts almost made the same mistake two years in a row: Leaving Will Smith out of the Dodgers' lineup on the star catcher's bobblehead night.

That happened last year, and even Roberts' wife gave him grief for the oversight back then. This year, Roberts had been planning to give Smith Saturday night off because he had already caught the team's first two games, and he won't play three in a row very often during the regular season. But Smith lobbied to play, and Roberts relented. After all, it was Smith's birthday.

It was fortunate that Smith talked his way into the lineup, as he celebrated 31 trips around the sun with a go-ahead two-run home run, lifting L.A. to a 3-2 victory and a season-opening three-game sweep of the D-backs. The bobblehead that the Dodgers gave away fittingly commemorated his go-ahead home run in Game 7 of the World Series last November.

"Regardless of it being my bobblehead night or anything, it's cool to put your team ahead, get a win, get the sweep," Smith said. "That's more what I was excited about."

Smith has quietly become not only one of the best catchers in baseball, but perhaps one of the most clutch players in the game. Whenever he steps up to the plate with the chance to swing the results of a game, the Dodgers have grown to expect him to come through.

"I think the heartbeat makes him reliable in those situations," Roberts said. "I think his ability to spoil pitches, to put the bat on the ball, he doesn’t chase very much, so he trusts his swing to see the ball a little bit longer with two strikes in big moments. And then when he gets a pitch he can handle, then he feels convicted to take a good swing.”

In the last 125 years, the Dodgers are just the seventh team to win their first three games of a season after trailing by multiple runs in each. The pitching staff kept the games close after falling behind, and the offense that Roberts described as "relentless" on Opening Day did its job when it mattered in all three contests.

"I think at all times, no matter what the score is, there is a lot of confidence that anything can happen," said starter Tyler Glasnow, who tossed six innings of two-run ball. "It never feels good to give up runs early, but I think it can get you in that mindset to lock in and keep the score small because there is no opponent lead that is safe."

On Thursday, it was Andy Pages who flipped the script on the D-backs. The new guys -- Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz -- got the job done on Friday. In Saturday's finale, it was Smith, who has played hero time and again for L.A.

The Dodgers were scoreless until the sixth inning, when Freddie Freeman doubled in Tucker to cut the D-backs' lead to 2-1. Two innings later, Smith came to the plate with Mookie Betts on first base and two outs.

Smith quickly fell behind 0-2, then took a couple pitches and fouled off a couple more until he got an elevated four-seamer from reliever Juan Morillo on the seventh pitch of the at-bat. He crushed it a Statcast-projected 414 feet to straightaway center at 105.1 mph off the bat to give the Dodgers their first lead of the night -- one they would hold to the end, when Díaz slammed the door for his second save in as many appearances in Dodger blue.

While Smith's big swing drew the most attention, the Dodgers have been just as pleased with how they've kept the line moving when producing runs. On Friday, it was Shohei Ohtani rolling over to put the would-be winning run on third base for Tucker. On Saturday, it was Betts drawing a walk ahead of Smith.

"We’ve just got a really good team right now, and a good approach," Freeman said. "Guys know their strike zones, what they're trying to do each and every at-bat. It's working so far."

And most importantly, they had the right man up at the right time on Saturday. Moving forward, expect Roberts to reference the Dodgers' promotional schedule as he's formulating his plans.

"I don't keep track of bobblehead nights, so I guess I've got to put that part in the calculus when I'm putting together lineups," Roberts said. "But yeah, it was the right decision.”