What Dave Roberts wants to see from LA in Game 2 against the Blue Jays

After being knocked out of their place in the first game of 2025 World Seriesthe Los Angeles Dodgers they now have a mountain to climb against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 on Saturday at Rogers Centre. The Dodgers lost 11-4 on Fridayallowing a nine-run sixth inning that included the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history.

Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts called focus on situational shots and steady shots moving forward.

“There were some key at-bats that can turn games around where I think we can be better,” Roberts said after the game. “Sometimes the offense looks great in the build-up, but in some key at-bats you’ve got to get pitches and use the other side of the field, get a hit, a walk, whatever. We can be better. We’ve got to get better. Gausman and those guys are fired up and playing good baseball. One through nine, we’ve got to keep playing well and playing good baseball.”

After the Game 1 loss, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says he wants to see his team improve in key AB advances in the series. pic.tvitter.com/AmUGjtOHrKs

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 25, 2025

The start of Game 1 showed that the Dodgers were in the door. Enrique “Kike” Hernandez drove in Teoscar Hernandez in the second inning, while Will Smith brought home Mookie Betts in the third to give Los Angeles a 2-0 lead. However, Toronto quickly tied the game in the fourth when Daulton Warshaw hit a two-run homer to center field, ending Blake Snell’s 17-inning postseason scoreless streak. It was his first homer allowed to the left-handed striker from June 2024.

The sixth inning turned into a nightmare for the Dodgers. Snell, starting the inning with 84 pitches in a 2-2 tie, allowed a walk, a single and a hit batter, loading the bases with no outs. Reliever Emmett Sheehan, a starter who stepped into a new relief role due to bullpen restrictions, allowed three inherited runners to score on two singles and a walk before recording an out.

Anthony Banda replaced him, but immediately surrendered the grand slam to Addison Barger. Alejandro Kirk finished the nine-run frame with a two-run homerturning a tight game into an 11–2 deficit. Shohei Ohtani added a two-run homer in the seventh, his first of his career, to host the World Series, but it was too late to change the outcome.

The series opener exposed the vulnerability of Los Angeles ball. Snell, Sheehan and Banda combined to throw 44 pitches in the sixth, giving up six hits, two walks and one strikeout. Before that inning, the Dodgers had allowed just eight runs in 53 postseason innings. The nine runs allowed in one frame was a postseason high for Los Angeles, surpassing the eight runs given up in Game 1 of the 2014 NLDS and tying the worst World Series by one inning since 1959.