Emmet Sheehan has been a guy the Los Angeles Dodgers have trusted all year long to provide the team with quality innings.
Despite the bullpen inconsistencies throughout the year, no one batted an eye when Sheehan was inserted into the eighth inning in Game 2 of the Wild Card series versus the Cincinnati Reds.
With an 8-2 lead, most presumed that Sheehan would provide a ho-hum outing -- shutting down the Reds en route to a victory. That didn't exactly go to plan for the pitcher or the ballclub. Sheehan had a rough go of it coming out of the beleaguered 'pen.
The 25-year-old allowed two singles, two walks, and a wild pitch before getting his first and only out. In the middle of an at-bat facing outfielder Will Benson (with a 1-2 count), manager Dave Roberts lifted Sheehan in favor of Alex Vesia. The Reds ended up scoring two runs that inning (both charged to Sheehan) before Vesia shut the door and got the Dodgers out of the inning.
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It's far from conventional to see a pitcher taken out of the game during an at-bat. When Roberts approached Sheehan, he leaned in and said something to him before the pitcher gave up the baseball. When asked after the game about the decision, Roberts was very forthright in illustrating his thinking at that present time.
"I trust [Sheehan], it was his first kind of real crack at kind of late leverage. He wasn't sharp, but I believe in him, I really do," Roberts said. "And I think for me to think that he can get through [Will] Benson, although he had count leverage, to then feel like he can get through [Matt] McLain, he would have been over 30 pitches, I just didn't think his stuff was as sharp.
"For me I just had a gut feeling that, give Vesia a chance to get leverage versus [Miguel] Andujar or if they leave Benson in. And I liked him against McLain and [TJ] Freidl. And that's my thought. But Emmet did a fine job. It just wasn't sharp tonight."
Sheehan rightfully has earned the trust of his ballclub given how good he's been all season long. Much of that year has been spent as a starter, and as such coming out of the bullpen likely was a bit of an adjustment for the Connecticut native.
At the very least, the Dodgers likely are thinking it's better that Sheehan 'got this out of the way' in the Wild Card series before heading to Philadelphia where he'll surely be counted on again in a high-leverage situation.
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