Padres pregame: Dodgers lining up another bullpen game

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers needed seven pitchers to get through Monday’s 6-3 loss, but the last four they employed — Alex Vesia, Michael Kopech, Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates — all got through their appearances in 11 pitchers or fewer.

While that’s two straight games for Vesia, Scott and Yates, that figures to put the Dodgers’ bullpen in better-than-decent shape as Dave Roberts lines up another bullpen game for Tuesday’s 7:10 p.m. start on Padres.TV.

Tuesday’s opener, Jack Dreyer, doesn’t come anywhere near matching Monday’s star power of Shohei Ohtani, but bullpen games have gone the Dodgers’ way against the Padres since Game 4 of last year’s NLDS, when they used eight pitchers in an 8-0 win that turned the tide back to Los Angeles’ side. Roberts called on eight pitchers in last week’s 5-2 win over the Padres at Petco Park, but it remains to be seen how many will be at his disposal as right-hander Emmet Sheehan will make his 2025 debut on Wednesday and could be limited in his first post-Tommy John appearance after topping out at 3⅓ innings on his minor league rehab assignment.

So Roberts will need coverage on Wednesday.

But first things first, and that’s getting as much as they can from Dreyer (2-2, 2.78 ERA), a left-hander who has 35 strikeouts in 35⅔ innings (1.15 WHIP) and has topped out at three innings and 38 pitches in his big-league appearances.

That includes allowing an unearned run in two-thirds of an inning as part of last week’s win over the Padres in a bullpen game.

Right-hander Matt Sauer (1-1, 5.68 ERA) has not pitched since throwing a career-high 111 pitches in last week’s punt game (4⅔ IP, 13 H, 9 ER, 3 BBs, 6 Ks) against the Padres, so he too could find his way to the mound in the next two days.

Either way, it appears the Padres are expecting Dreyer to at least get through the order once as they’ve stacked the bottom third of the lineup with three right-handed hitters: shortstop Jose Iglesias (.567 OPS), center fielder Brandon Lockridge (.538 OPS) and catcher Martín Maldonado (.520 OPS).

A day earlier with the right-handed Ohtani serving as the opener, the six-, seven- and eight-hole hitters were left-handed.

With Iglesias at shortstop, Xander Bogaerts will serve as the DH and bat fifth between left fielder Gavin Sheets and second baseman Jake Cronenworth.

Here’s how we’re lining up for Game 2. pic.twitter.com/VCvUmD2W76

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 17, 2025

Padres right-hander Randy Vásquez (3-4, 3.57 ERA) was one out away from qualifying for a quality start last week against the Dodgers, striking out four and allowing one run on two hits and a walk. But only four of Vásquez’s 14 starts are quality starts and he’s walking 4.6 batters per nine innings, the worst rate of his career.

Here is how he has fared against current Dodgers: