Dodgers’ Dave Roberts on Tight NL West Race: ‘We’re Very Aware of It’

The Los Angeles Dodgers lead the National League West by 2.5 games following Friday night’s 9-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The pressure is on for the Dodgers down the stretch as division rivals, the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, are hoping to close the gap.

Just two weeks ago, Los Angeles led the division by 8.5 games but in the absence of several starters the lead has greatly diminished. The playoff picture in the NL West remains a mystery amidst the nail-biting race.

“We’re very aware of it,” Roberts said of the tightening division race. “I’d be lying if I said that no one’s watching the scoreboard and appreciating how good the rest of the teams in our division are playing, so that just puts the onus on us to play good baseball. We have to take care of business and win baseball games.”

Right-handed pitcher Jack Flaherty, a last-minute trade deadline addition, had a solid outing in his home debut for Los Angeles.

Los Angeles put on a show offensively, with Freddie Freeman hitting a solo homer in the first and Shohei Ohtani hitting his 35th home run of the season. The two-run bomb was a pivotal play in the third inning. Kiké Hernandez also homered in the fifth thanks to Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds knocking the ball over the wall.

Unfortunately, the Dodgers bats weren’t the only ones hitting dingers on Friday night

Jackson Merill helped the Padres get a 6-2 victory over the Miami Marlins with a game-tying homer in the ninth inning. The San Diego bats earned four more runs in the tenth to win their sixth-consecutive game. The contest was the third straight game that the Padres came back to win, a coveted quality for the postseason matchups.

Meanwhile, Arizona is also playing red, hot baseball going 15-5 since the All-Star break. Diamondbacks Adrian Del Castillo hit a walk-off homer in the ninth inning to cement a 3-2 victory over the Phillies on Friday.

Additionally, Arizona is getting reinforcements on the hill as starting pitcher Merill Kelly is likely to make his first start since April on Sunday.

Although the Dodgers are performing well, the Padres and Diamondbacks have given Los Angeles no room to breathe. All three teams appear to be in the midst of a second-half surge which makes the division race all the more frightening.

Los Angeles awaits the return of key starters including Mookie Betts and Max Muncy. Betts can return as soon as Sunday.

Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

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