Reliever Adam Liberatore reaches milestone in Dodgers’ 4-3 win over Padres

The milestone caught Adam Liberatore by surprise. He looked up midway through the eighth inning of a 4-3 victory over San Diego and saw Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts walking toward the mound. “Congrats,” Roberts told Liberatore as he removed him from the game.

“I didn’t know what he was talking about,” Liberatore said. “It seemed like a really weird thing to say in that situation. I’m getting pulled, and the guy is saying, ‘Congrats.’ I’m like ‘What?’”

The bewilderment was a fitting emotion for Liberatore, an unheralded pillar of this unheralded Dodgers bullpen. With a pair of strikeouts on Saturday, he set a franchise record with 24 consecutive scoreless appearances. He surpassed a mark set by John Candelaria in 1991.

For the Dodgers (50-40), the victory fit a draining but effective pattern. Operating with scant command, starter Brandon McCarthy supplied only five innings. Liberatore and four other relievers combined for the final 12 outs. Kenley Jansen notched his 26th save of the season.

Roberts and the Dodgers front office understand the formula is far from ideal. The unreliability of the starting rotation has placed an extra burden on the relief corps. Until Clayton Kershaw returns from the disabled list, or until the team secures more pitching before the Aug. 1 trade deadline, this strategy will have to do.

“Everybody sees it, how much they need us, and the way we take care of business,” Jansen said. “I think they all appreciate what we do.”

The bullpen held a lead captured in the fifth inning after a productive slide by Justin Turner. He broke up a double play, which caused Padres shortstop Alexei Ramirez to throw away the baseball. Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-out, RBI double in the first. Howie Kendrick smacked a two-run double in the fourth.

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McCarthy struck out six across his uneven outing. He was making his second major league start since undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2015. He understood, even before the game started, he would be climbing uphill. He had no feel for the baseball, and “it felt like I might have been throwing a football.”

“Usually if you’re not good in the ’pen, it doesn’t mean anything,” McCarthy said. “Today, I was bad in the ’pen, and I felt like ‘Oh, boy. I don’t know how I’m going to get this back.’”

He extended the Padres an early lead. He walked the first batter of the game, outfielder Travis Jankowski, on four pitches. He secured two outs before third baseman Yangervis Solarte turned on a 93-mph fastball. Off the bat, the ball kept climbing, until it cleared the fence in right.

“He really didn’t have command of much today, as far as any time of consistency or rhythm,” Roberts said.

McCarthy did not give up another hit until the fifth. By then, his teammates had gotten to Padres starter Luis Perdomo.

San Diego acquired Perdomo as a Rule 5 selection in December. He had never pitched above Class A during five seasons in St. Louis’ organization. To avoid returning Perdomo, a 23-year-old right-hander, the Padres attempted to hide him in the bullpen for the majority of 2016. A slew of injuries forced him into their rotation.

Perdomo hauled a 7.93 earned-run average to the mound with him Saturday. He lasted six innings, which actually lowered his ERA.

McCarthy would not last beyond the fifth. He gave up a leadoff double to Ramirez, who ripped a 93-mph fastball into left field and advanced to second without fear of Kendrick’s arm. Jankowski tied the game with a single into center.

In between innings, McCarthy was asked how he felt.

“I think I’m fine,” he told them. “But I can’t tell.”

McCarthy had thrown 77 pitches, but Roberts indicated the decision to activate the bullpen was unrelated to a pitch count.

“I wanted to do everything I can to give us the best chance to win that game today,” he said. “When I see that there’s no command . . .”

So the phone rang in the bullpen in the left-field corner of the ballpark. Casey Fien threw a scoreless inning. Chris Hatcher picked up two outs. Liberatore arrived for the final out of the seventh. He struck out pinch-hitter Brett Wallace with a chest-high slider.

Liberatore rested in between innings and faced one more batter. In a seven-pitch duel, he recorded another punchout when Jankowski declined to swing at a changeup over the middle. From the dugout strolled Roberts, ready to congratulate Liberatore for a milestone he did not know he had reached.

In all likelihood, Liberatore will be asked to extend his record on Sunday. And, again and again, after the All-Star break. Like the rest of the bullpen, he will be taxed.

“They call down and tell us to get ready, and we get ready to go in,” Liberatore said. “It’s not like we’re like, ‘We’re going to take over the game.’ But when they call down to put us in, we go in and try to do the best we can.”