Following Saturday night’s exciting come-from-behind 5-3 win over the Angels of Anaheim at Dodger Stadium, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked about the pitching performance of 22-year-old right-hander Brusdar Graterol, who allow no runs and two hits with no walks and two strikeouts in the top of the eighth inning.

What makes Graterol’s one-inning relief appearance all the more impressive is that one of his two strikeout victims was that of baseball’s modern-day Babe Ruth – 27-year-old superstar pitcher, designated hitter, and in this instance pinch-hitter Shohei Ohtani – with runners on first and second and two outs.

“Brusdar did a great job. I thought about (intentionally walking Ohtani) to potentially walk the bases loaded, which I have done before,” Roberts said. “But I think that with Brusdar’s stuff, you know, a ball getting by the catcher, a potential walk, I just felt that if you pitch him carefully, which was the goal, we had a chance to get him. So, credit to him and Will (Smith).”

Graterol struck out Ohtani on five pitches:

But there’s more to this story … a lot more.

When asked about Graterol’s noticeable newfound confidence, Roberts was quick to give credit where credit is due – to Dodgers third baseman and unofficial team captain Justin Turner.

“The credit goes to our pitching staff – Connor McGuiness, Mark Prior, Josh Bard – those guys have been working on Brusdar with the delivery, and JT, ironically enough, is the one who brought it to light initially about slowing Brusdar down,” Roberts said with a smile. “So, with kind of those guys running with it, slowing his delivery down, which has allowed for him to execute the two-seamer as well as the slider. So, I think going forward; if we can keep that delivery intact, then we’re going to see the best of Brusdar.

“It was just one of those things where he’s just been so quick to the plate, and Justin is such a student of the game and noticed how quick Brusdar is to the plate, and just feeling that if he could slow down, it might make it even harder on hitters,” Roberts explained. “With a slower delivery, it’s kind of a counter-intuitive, but for him to slow down would give him a better chance to get hitters out. And then you take the pitching guys to use that information and dig in on the delivery, so it’s been kind of a tag-team. But like I said, Connor, Mark, and Bart have done a fantastic job with him.”

Justin Turner – pitching coach.

Who knew.

Play Ball!

  *  *  *  *  *  *