Dave Roberts Reacts to Brusdar Graterol's Wild Throw, Error in Dodgers Loss
For the second straight appearance, a self inflicted wound cost Brusdar Graterol dearly. The Dodgers setup man is suffering through a mini stretch of plainly trying to do too much on defense with two throwing errors bringing home 4 total unearned runs.
While both plays didn't directly cost the Dodgers a game, they were big contributing factors in losses. On Sunday, Dave Roberts shared his thoughts on Graterol's recent stretch with a focus on his inning against the Yankees.
“He’s just so athletic, and he’s such a good defender, but clearly, you can’t make every single play. That’s a play where you just have to eat the ball. You’ve got eight, nine [hitters] coming up, it’s a clean inning. But when you start giving away bases, you create stress, and that’s what happens.”
Here's a look at the admittedly tough play.
Brusdar loves fielding his position and usually does it well. This stretch of two games feels like more of an anomaly than a concern, but we'll wait for him to rattle off a few clean outings before closing the book on the error era.
To his credit, Graterol owned the error, having this to say to reporters through a translator.
“Yeah, there’s just some times where you don’t think things through, and you’re trying to make a play that you shouldn’t be making. And that’s just one of those times where you’re not thinking clearly.”
Save for the two recent flubs, Brusdar has been mostly solid for the Dodgers this season. After a rough start, through his first four appearances (6.75 ERA), the right-hander has a 0.87 ERA over his next 22 appearances, 18 of which have been scoreless outings.
