Roberts stands by letting Freese bat vs. righty

Dodgers' skipper hesitant to pinch-hit in 5th with shorter bench

October 24th, 2018

BOSTON -- Just when you think you've figured out the Dodgers' formula for substitutions, they let face a right-handed pitcher and he strikes out, in Game 1 of the World Series.
The Dodgers acquired Freese on Aug. 31 from the Pirates for the expressed purpose of boosting the offense against left-handed pitching, along with the added value of being a former World Series MVP. He delivered as promised, hitting. 385 in regular-season games after the trade, then delivering repeated clutch at-bats in the two postseason rounds that helped the Dodgers reach the World Series.
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Freese singled twice against Red Sox lefty Chris Sale during Tuesday night's 8-4 loss at Fenway Park. Then in the fifth inning with the game tied at 3, led off with a walk, and that was all for Sale. In came right-handed reliever Matt Barnes, who gave up a single to to put men on first and second. So who would bat in Freese's place?
David Freese. Ordinarily, that would be time for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to go to one of his left-handed pinch-hitters. hit for Freese in the fourth inning in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. hit for Freese in the second inning of Game 4. Muncy also hit for Freese in the seventh inning of Game 2 and the fourth inning of Game 1.
But Freese hit for himself this time and struck out. After a wild pitch moved the runners 90 feet, Manny Machado grounded out to score one run. Then left-handed-hitting batted for Chris Taylor and flied out to end the inning.
Because of the designated hitter, Roberts has one asset fewer on the bench.
"I like David's at-bats," Roberts said. "And you look at Barnes, he's sort of neutral. He's got a good fastball. He's got a cutter that gets lefties out.
"So I just felt that [with runners on] first and second base, you've got Machado behind him and you have a chance to hit for [Taylor] after that. But in the fifth inning, you start to hit for guys, you're going to have nobody left in the game. With the neutral guy and with how David is swinging the bat, I still liked him against Barnes."
Roberts emptied the bench in the seventh inning, when Pederson batted for and grounded out, Muncy batted for Dozier and singled, and batted for Freese and walked. Muncy eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Machado.