Relievers find way to grind out victory

On a night the Dodgers (86-67) managed only two runs off Giants ace Logan Webb — both of which came in a sixth-inning rally keyed by a Shohei Ohtani double, Freeman RBI single and dropped ball at the plate by Giants catcher Patrick Bailey — the bullpen was forced to pick up the slack.

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Things started well with Jack Dreyer, who inherited a runner from Yamamoto with one out in the sixth and stranded it in the span of 11 pitches.

The seventh inning, however, quickly became an adventure, with two of the Dodgers’ most veteran relief arms putting themselves in a world of danger.

It started with Kopech, and his continued struggles to locate the ball since returning from a midseason knee injury. The hard-throwing right-hander walked his first two batters, with a (very, very) wild pitch in between. He bounced back to strike out Drew Gilbert for the inning’s first out. But by that point, he had issued eight total walks over his last four outings, recording only eight outs in that span while throwing 50 balls to 45 strikes.

Thus, Roberts went back to the mound, bringing Treinen in to try and put out the fire.

Like Kopech, Treinen has battled uncharacteristic inconsistencies lately. He was the culprit when the Dodgers squandered Yamamoto’s near no-hitter in Baltimore earlier this month. He gave up a game-deciding, three-run homer to the Philadelphia Phillies’ backup catcher two nights prior.