Dodgers Postgame: Dave Roberts discusses Shohei Ohtani intentional walk to face Mookie Betts

uh Dave just kind of what is your reaction to when you see a situation show show how Tani gets intentionally walked which of course you know in that situation makes a lot of sense but then of course you got mookie bets right behind him how valuable is that just from your side what was your reaction just kind of to seeing how the whole moment played out um I certainly like the result um mooki with a huge hit uh and obviously as an opposing manager there's no right or wrong decision it's a adage pick your poison um that's the great thing about having great players cuz you know for my chair there's always a good option and uh mookie came up big tonight youve talked about just in the past of you know wanting to kind of see this left right left um or excuse me left right left I think I said that anyway uh how have you enjoyed just kind of seeing it play out the top of the order uh it's been great and uh you know I think that you know that little break that Freddy had I think recharged him and just being back you know through that Arizona series and Tak into tonight uh he's swinging the bat really well taking good at bats looks like the Freddy uh you know of who we of you know who we know and um yeah just to have mookie sandwich in there I think he's getting a lot of matchups cuz they're trying to get a lot of left-handed pitchers on uh on Shi um but overall I I thought we hung in there I thought deur was really good tonight and uh Miggy row just keeps taking getting big hits and so even that hit in the ninth in the 10th inning was a big hit that sort of you know opened up the floodgates what wasmer doing to keep you guys so off balance at plate yeah um I I I think his fast ball was back to what it has been in the past uh this year fastball velocity certainly you know in the minors and before he got demoted was down uh the fast ball played up tonight slider was good got a lot of swinging Miss and so he was kind of you know back to being who he was I'm sure he was amped up about tonight so what did you see from Walker in terms of progress over his last few starts um I I I thought since the from the last start I I thought there was it was even better in the sense of his composure um I I think right now Walker's in compete mode and and I think that it's important that you know when you're in September you've got a few starts left till we get to the postseason and him trying to find some traction and and get to being the pitcher that he was it's important to kind of you know at some point you got to put mechanics aside and you got to go out there and compete and make pitches and uh his last start tonight I thought he did that uh tonight I thought the curveball was really good I thought the fast ball command was much better um he made a mistake with the slider cutter um to ohpp and then you know Ward blocked a fast ball for a homer but outside of that I thought he you know really did a nice job managing that lineup how much do that curve ball open things up for him it's done a lot I I think that you know he's probably using it more than he's ever had ever has in the past but it just gets him off the fast ball teams off the fast ball um he's working more of a front to back game which I think is important he's not just going cutter heavy and um you know I think it's just making him a better pitcher how much pushing from you guys has led to more of that curveball usage and kind of what you're saying you know kind of changing the way he attacks guys compared to the four the surgery you know I I I just think that the game tells you you know what adjustments you need or don't need to make and you know when hitters are timing up your fast ball you're not getting swing and Miss um you know that's telling you you got to do something different and so to his credit he's uh you know realizing what the game's telling him to do and making adjustments your team has been down here a lot over the years what did tonight feel like with the show he return and Fan Fair surrounding that it was great great energy um it seems like every time we come here Dodger fans are are you know supporting us and and show up and obviously the angel fans uh love to root against us and uh the energy was great and I I thought uh you know the you know reception show he got was fine um and it was good to see him have a nice ball game too is there any extra importance in just being able to pull this one out coming off the series in Arizona and trying to keep momentum I I think so yeah you know we we've you know you look back at the last even the last couple weeks we've played some intense baseball games and so you know tonight against a team that's you know trying to fight and play good baseball some young players um it's a game that you don't want to let down and um I don't think we let down in the first six Innings five innings I thought Demmer Su the ball well and um we had that Lefty on the ropes he got out of it but it was just good for us to continue to persevere and find to win a ball game and so I think the takeaway is walking through the ball really well tonight offense uh got some big hits and um you know tomorrow's going to be a big one for Bobby Miller um hopefully he can you know build off of what Walker did tonight and uh incentivize him a little bit more too after muk's um three-run home run he showed a lot of emotion and as much as we do see emotions from him often I guess did it feel like that hit felt a little more special to him I think so um you know it's still a big hit um but you know when you when someone walks when another manager walks a player in front of you um you take it personal and I know wash had nothing personal again it's it's a fine baseball decision but as a player that's what motivates you and so for him to come through like that that sends a message and uh I'm sure obviously that led to some of the emotion from M what does 106 look like from the side oh my goodness oh my goodness that's yeah I'm just happy that I was 90 ft away uh from from from uh the Batters box um that's uncomfortable so I'm glad we got him in a situation where it wasn't a safe situation but uh we got through that inning and hopefully we can keep him out of the game tomorrow is there any update on Yo after um you know what I I came out came out after he threw two innings and I think there was like a a long at bat I forgot the guy's name that was a big leager 17 16 pitch at bat but I think he came out of it fine you talk about Miller building on what Walker did tonight is there I don't know if competitiveness is the right term but guys see what happened the night before and okay I'm I'm going to outdo that I'm going to you know it maybe it is competitiveness I don't know yeah I I think there's something to that um I I think that you know hitting is contagious I think that you know starts can executively is contagious and I think that the competitiveness should be a part of it and um and I and I want guys to to best the guy before and so that's a good thing thank you yeah