Dodgers' Edwin Diaz Backed by Dave Roberts Despite 9th-Inning Meltdown in Loss to Brewers

The Los Angeles Dodgers have suddenly found themselves with a big ninth-inning question mark after Edwin Díaz blew his third save in a six-day span by allowing three runs on four hits in Thursday's 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Despite Díaz's struggles, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts dismissed the idea of removing him from the closer role.

"It's just not that easy when a guy's done it for seven, eight years, whatever it is, to change routines," Roberts told reporters after Thursday's game. "Part of my job is to give him the best opportunity to prepare and have success, and then it goes to the player to kind of go out there and do their job."

Díaz has been having issues all season, but the hope was his early-season woes were a product of the loose bodies in his elbow that required surgery in April and kept him out for three months.

Brewers vs. Dodgers (08/13/2026)

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Since returning from the injured list on July 29, Díaz has made seven appearances and allowed at least one run in five of those outings. He has a 12.71 ERA and 12 hits allowed in 5.2 innings during this span.

There are any number of explanations for what is going wrong for Díaz in 2026. His average fastball velocity of 96.2 mph is down one full mile per hour from last year.

Opposing hitters are crushing both his fastball (.360 batting average, .720 slugging percentage) and slider (.320 average, .560 slugging).

Díaz has allowed at least three earned runs three times in 14 appearances this season. He allowed at least three earned runs three times in 116 appearances over the previous two seasons.

The Dodgers pitching staff has been getting healthier with Díaz and Blake Snell returning recently. Snell's outing on Tuesday was very promising with 10 strikeouts in six innings against the Kansas City Royals.

Los Angeles proved last year it could win a World Series title with a makeshift bullpen, but signing Díaz as a free agent was supposed to alleviate that concern.

Instead, the Dodgers find themselves in a position where they have to keep a close eye on Díaz down the stretch to evaluate how much of a contributor he might be in the playoffs.

Thursday's loss dropped the Dodgers two games behind the Brewers in the race for the best record and home-field advantage in the NL.