Dodgers, Diamondbacks reveal NLDS rosters, still waiting to reveal Game 3 starters – Press Enterprise

LOS ANGELES ― The Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks have an off-day before and after Game 2 of the National League Division Series.

Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that neither team’s manager was in any rush Saturday to anoint a starting pitcher for Wednesday’s Game 3. Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said Game 3 is the “natural spot” for right-hander Brandon Pfaadt to start, but he declined to officially name a starter.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wouldn’t even go that far. Both Lance Lynn and Ryan Pepiot are “in play” for Game 3, he said, but neither right-hander has been officially chosen for the assignment.

It won’t be left-hander Ryan Yarbrough.

Yarbrough and infielder Amed Rosario were not among the 13 pitchers and 13 position players chosen for the Dodgers’ NLDS roster. The group includes five newcomers to postseason play: pitchers Bobby Miller, Michael Grove, Emmet Sheehan, Ryan Pepiot, and outfielder James Outman.

Rosario, whom the Dodgers acquired from the Cleveland Guardians for pitcher Noah Syndergaard in late July, batted .256 with a .709 OPS in 48 games.

“It was more driven by the fact that we have Kiké (Hernandez) and (Chris Taylor) that are versatile players from the right side,” Roberts said, “and having Amed, without a left-handed starter going for them, is a little redundant. And so to have a left-handed bat in Kolten (Wong), who you could have come out of some hitting situations, on the bench we felt was a lot of value.”

Yarbrough, a midseason acquisition from Kansas City, went 4-2 with a 4.89 ERA in 11 games (two starts) after the trade. He averaged nearly three innings per appearance and could be more valuable to the Dodgers in a best-of-seven series than the best-of-five NLDS.

Teams are allowed to reset their 26-man rosters after every postseason round.

OLD FRIENDS

Dodgers star Mookie Betts and Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo shared a hug in the middle of Lovullo’s press conference Friday.

“Sorry guys, gotta give him a hug,” Betts said before their embrace. “He raised me.”

Lovullo got to know Betts as the Boston Red Sox’s bench coach from 2013-16, spanning the first three seasons of Betts’ major league career. Saturday, Lovullo expanded on how their relationship began and persisted into the present.

“I love Mookie Betts. I love him like my own child,” Lovullo said of Betts. “And we, I think, have a very unique bond that we both understand. I cheer for him and pull for him professionally and personally. We stay in contact throughout the course of the year, mostly via text, and I pridefully watch him in his success. And there’s just a mutual level of respect and admiration.

“Once we get between the white lines, though, it’s on,” Lovullo continued. “It’s all about competition and I get the front row seat to watch him compete, and I love that. But my relationship and my friendship means more to me than people might even have a clue about. For him to walk in here yesterday, that’s the norm for him and I.”

BOOKENDS

Dodgers outfielder David Peralta, who has played the third-most games of anyone in Diamondbacks history, downplayed any effect his 18 seasons in the organization might hold for him in the NLDS.

“I don’t care who is over there, to be honest,” he said. “The D-Backs or another team, we just have to play the game.”