Dave Roberts' quick hook of Emmet Sheehan backfires as Angels rout Dodgers

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers entered Sunday afternoon with a chance to complete a season sweep of the Angels.

Instead, they walked away from Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium with one of their ugliest losses of the season, a 13-5 defeat in front of 49,535 fans that left plenty of questions surrounding Dave Roberts’ early decision-making.

With Emmet Sheehan laboring through a stressful inning and already at 35 pitches in the inning, Roberts emerged from the dugout and removed his starter after just 1⅓ innings. Sheehan's final line wasn't pretty, three hits, two runs, two walks and two strikeouts on 49 pitches. But the move ultimately opened the floodgates for an Angels offense that battered six Dodgers relievers the rest of the afternoon.

"I thought the stuff was good coming in, I really did," Roberts said. "I think that obviously you look at the Madrigal at-bat and I think it was 14-15 pitches. After the first inning, I just didn't feel comfortable getting him past the 40-pitch mark in one inning. In the second inning he had one out and here comes Neto, here comes Trout. I just felt right there that I was not gonna put this guy in harm's way with stress."

Roberts' concern for protecting Sheehan is understandable. The right-hander had already endured a draining second inning highlighted by Nick Madrigal 's exhausting 14-pitch walk that included two successful ABS challenges. The inning only became more frustrating when Dalton Rushing appeared to catch a foul tip for what should have been strike three against José Siri , only for the call to be missed and the at-bat extended into a bases-loading walk.

Rushing was visibly frustrated and Roberts shared those sentiments afterward.

"Didn't get an explanation," Roberts said. "It should be reviewable."

Still, removing Sheehan at that moment felt like an overreaction.