Dodgers’ bullpen gets the job done in Game 6 of NLCS

  • Dodgers relief pitcher Kenley Jansen throws to the plate during the ninth inning of Game 6 of the NLCS on Saturday in Arlington, Texas. Jansen needed just six pitches to get the last three outs in a 3-1 victory over the Braves. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

  • Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Blake Treinen throws against the Atlanta Braves during the seventh inning in Game 6 of a baseball National League Championship Series Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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  • ARLINGTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 17: Blake Treinen #49 speaks to Austin Barnes #15 of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the seventh inning against the Atlanta Braves in Game Six of the National League Championship Series at Globe Life Field on October 17, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

  • Dodgers relief pitcher Pedro Baez retired Atlanta’s Travis d’Arnaud on a strikeout, Ozzie Albies on an infield fly, and Dansby Swanson on an easy fly ball to right field in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the NLCS on Saturday. It was the Dodgers’ first clean inning since starter Walker Buehler retired the side in the third. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

  • Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Kenley Jansen throws against the Atlanta Braves during the ninth inning in Game 6 of a baseball National League Championship Series Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

  • ARLINGTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 17: Will Smith #16 and Kenley Jansen #74 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate the teams 3-1 victory against the Atlanta Braves in Game Six of the National League Championship Series at Globe Life Field on October 17, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

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The Dodgers’ bullpen has taken its share of criticism recently. That can only mean one thing: it’s October.

Tasked with recording the final nine outs with a 3-0 lead in a do-or-die Game 6 of the National League Championship Series on Saturday, the bullpen did it.

Blake Treinen allowed the Atlanta Braves’ only run in a 3-1 victory, then snuffed out a possible rally in a tense seventh inning. Pedro Baez and Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect eighth and ninth, respectively.

Walker Buehler set them up with six shutout innings. The same bullpen that had surrendered 15 earned runs in 22-2/3 innings over the first five games of the NLCS knocked ’em down.

“For me at that point in time,” Manager Dave Roberts said, “I’m just trying to shorten the game.”

Treinen set a foreboding tone. On his first pitch, the left-handed-hitting Nick Markakis squared up a belt-high cutter, lining it into right field for a triple.

The next batter, Cristian Pache, appeared fooled as he whiffed on a middle-middle cutter at 96 mph. He grounded the next pitch weakly to third base for the first out of the seventh inning. Markakis stayed put at third base.

Ronald Acuña was up next. He must have anticipated the same pitch – an inside, belt-high cutter – that Treinen threw to Markakis. His line drive to right field fell for a double, drove in the Braves’ first run, and put a runner in scoring position with one out. Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna, the Braves’ most dangerous hitters in the series, were up next.

Treinen challenged Freeman with a high cutter, and the probable National League MVP swung and missed. With the count 1-and-2, Treinen dialed up another high cutter. Freeman swung and missed again, giving the Dodgers the critical second out.

Treinen attacked Ozuna with sliders. The last of them was dangerously close to belt-high, but Ozuna hit a lazy fly ball to Mookie Betts in right field to end the inning. It was the most tension the bullpen faced Saturday, and the Dodgers dodged the bullet.

Baez’s mistakes have threaded the fabric of October failures for a decade. The burly right-hander inherited two runners from Tony Gonsolin in the fifth inning of Game 2. Both runners scored, as did another, and Baez’s career postseason earned-run average swelled to 4.30.

Saturday, Baez needed 17 pitches to retire Travis d’Arnaud on a strikeout, Ozzie Albies on an infield fly, and Dansby Swanson on an easy fly ball to Betts. It was the first clean inning since Buehler retired the side in the third.

Finally, Jansen found himself in a familiar spot: a clean ninth-inning save situation. The velocity and movement of his signature pitch, the cutter, had diminished rapidly since September. It had cost him sole possession of the closer’s job. Yet Roberts trusted him enough to face Austin Riley, Markakis and pinch-hitter Pablo Sandoval with a two-run lead.

“There’s been some under-the-surface numbers where (Jansen) has been really good, whether it be quality of contact, strikeouts,” Roberts said. “There have been some things in there that have been really good that just haven’t shown itself.”

The inning ended before it could go sideways. Riley swung at the first pitch, hit a line drive to left field, and Joc Pederson slid foot-first to make the catch charging in. Markakis swung at the first pitch too, flying out to Cody Bellinger in center field.

Sandoval saw four pitches. The last ended the game with an easy fly ball to Pederson. The Dodgers staved off elimination, and Jansen staved off the end of his time as the team’s closer. He threw six pitches in the inning, all for strikes, and none slower than 90 mph.

Roberts could not have scripted a better ending.

“This has been a tough, challenging year from different perspectives,” Roberts said of Jansen. “The game’s honoring him. I couldn’t be more happy and more proud of him.”

Jansen said Saturday afternoon that he rediscovered his mechanics with the help of two of his former coaches, Rick Honeycutt and Charlie Hough. He couldn’t have waited any longer.

“If we want to get to where we want to be, holding the trophy at the end of the year, we’re going to need (Jansen). He’s going to be a big part of it,” Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said. “You can just see the confidence he has on the mound, attacking guys. That’s the Kenley Jansen I and all of us in there know and love.”

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