LOS ANGELES — As Didier Fuentes crossed himself and thanked the heavens, his bosses on Earth convened to discuss his fate.
The 21-year-old, baby-faced Colombian was a man — a kid, actually — in total flow state. He’d just retired the side in the eighth, his third consecutive perfect inning against the two-time defending champs. After he entered to start the sixth, it’d been nine up, nine down, thank you very much. Los Angeles’ imposing lineup full of MVPs and All-Stars and October-familiar veterans looked utterly lost against the rookie right-hander in this knife’s-edge NLDS Game 2.
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As Fuentes strolled off the mound beneath a scared-silent Dodger Stadium, with his club clinging to a 3-1 lead, three measly outs stood between the Braves and an even series.
But who exactly would be trusted to collect those outs?
Manager Walt Weiss and his brain trust — a six-man think tank of ballcoaches who’d spent the night navigating a most complicated bullpen game — huddled to discuss the decision. They could either stick with the cruising Fuentes or hand the ball to closer Raisel Iglesias, warm and ready in the Braves bullpen. Fuentes had thrown three consecutive days in the series against the Phillies. Four innings was a big ask. But he looked untouchable.
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It was a tough question, albeit one with no bad answer.
“After his third inning, I looked at our pitching coach — let’s see how he feels,” Weiss said afterward. “If he feels good enough, I want to send him back out. I didn’t want to mess with a good thing. He was throwing the ball really well.”
So pitching coach Jeremy Heffner and coach Tony Diaz bounded over to Fuentes, resting nonchalantly on the dugout bench. In Spanish, Diaz asked how he felt — could he throw the ninth? Fuentes, unbothered, nodded and said yes. Diaz looked into his pitcher’s eyes and tried to deduce the truth. Heffner did the same with Diaz. Satisfied with what they saw, the tandem returned to Weiss to relay the news: The ninth belonged to Fuentes.
“It’s stuff you would never do in the regular season,” Heffner told Yahoo Sports after Atlanta’s series-tying 3-2 win.
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Fuentes returned to the mound and retired the first two batters he faced before surrendering a last-gasp solo homer to Max Muncy. That brought Dodger Stadium alive. It also brought Weiss out of the dugout and Iglesias out of the pen. And the gambit worked. Pinch hitter Josue De Paula popped out harmlessly in foul territory to end the evening. Weiss and his crew patted one another on the back in congratulations. Fuentes, a wry smile peeking out from under his peach fuzz mustache, inched onto the field for celebratory handshakes.
With their ace Chris Sale in a hoodie, their best-laid bullpen plans shot to pieces and their heart rates through the roof, the Braves had stolen one from the Dodgers.
“It wasn’t the plan, believe me,” Weiss admitted postgame when asked about getting 11 outs from Fuentes.
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Before the game, Weiss was grilled on his decision to push Sale to Game 3. The future Hall of Famer had been on schedule to throw Game 2 after starting Game 1 of the wild-card series on Tuesday. But an unlikely relief appearance on Thursday in Game 3 against Philadelphia changed things. Atlanta didn’t want to squeeze dry its golden goose. A fully rested Sale, the Braves decided, offered the best odds of a series victory.
That meant employing a second straight bullpen game against the Dodgers in Game 2 on Sunday.
“Those are my favorite games,” Heffner said afterward. “They are emotionally and intellectually exhausting. But it is the most fun to try to get the puzzle right.”
Coincidentally, the Dodgers also found themselves in a bullpen game. Starter Blake Snell was discombobulated and ineffective in his first start of these playoffs. He walked five and needed 90 pitches to record 11 outs. While Snell avoided the big blow — Atlanta’s only run against him came on a first-inning Mauricio Dubon infield single — it was a massively disappointing night for the two-time Cy Young.
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“He just wasn’t sharp, obviously,” manager David Roberts said on the broadcast after taking Snell out. “He was fighting himself all game. You can see the fastball was good as far as life, velocity. But he didn’t have command of that. The changeup, a pitch that he loves to go to, didn’t have any feel for that. The slider, same thing.
“I think just tonight, he was just by himself. Obviously, the pitch count got up, and I just thought, that spot, we’ve gotta kinda limit the damage.”
Snell’s brief outing forced Roberts to boot up his own bullpen carousel. Combined, the teams used 11 relievers to cover 13 2/3 innings. It was a chaotic love letter to modern playoff baseball. At this time of year, there are no pitcher roles. There are just outs to collect, dreams to steal and legends to make.
For instance, Atlanta’s scheduled “bulk guy,” Grant Holmes, lasted just two-thirds of an inning. In the fourth, he allowed a game-tying solo shot from former Brave Freddie Freeman, Freeman’s first extra-base hit since Sept. 2. Two more baserunners reached against Holmes, ending both his evening and the security of Atlanta’s pitching plans. They went to setup man Dylan Lee in the fourth and former All-Star closer Robert Suarez in the fifth. The path to 27 outs looked fraught, with only Fuentes and Iglesias as trusted options.
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But the Braves’ offense retook the lead in the fifth as Los Angeles’ bullpen game started to fray. Michael Harris II poked a two-out triple into the left-field corner, then scored on a Kris Bubic wild pitch. Harris, Atlanta’s offensive star on the night, also provided some insurance in the seventh with a scorched RBI double that plated Matt Olson. That cushion proved crucial, as it allowed Weiss and Co. to keep leaning on Fuentes.
L.A. dodged major danger in the top of the eighth when Roki Sasaki, after loading the sacks with two walks (one intentional) and a hit-by-pitch, conjured an inning-ending double play from former MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. That threw the spotlight back onto Fuentes, the young swingman with the facial hair of a high school kid posing for a fake ID. But the Colombian was up to the moment, retiring Will Smith, Freeman and Teoscar Hernández in order in the eighth. Muncy made things hairy in the ninth, but Iglesias buckled down to tie this suddenly enticing series at one.
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Sale, grounded in Game 2 against his wishes, will retake the stage on Tuesday. Opposite him, the Dodgers will tap Yoshinobu Yamamoto, last October’s magic-maker. It’s sure to be a firecracker, with two likely top-five Cy Young finalists squaring off with the series lead in the balance.
The coaches, at least, should have much less bullpen maneuvering to worry about.
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