“We're all battle-hardened.” The Dodgers' relievers rely on each other to achieve victories

The playoffs began with Blake Treinen bailing out a shaky Dodgers bullpen, 36-year-old right-hander Michael Kopech replacing Michael Kopech, escaping a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth inning and throwing 39 pitches for a five-out save in the third Playoffs saved the National League Division Series opener against the San Diego Padres.

It was time for revenge on Saturday night when left-hander Alex Vesia threw a life preserver to Treinen after Treinen gave up a run, gave up two more singles and hit a batter, increasing his pitch count to 33 as the Dodgers got dangerously close were to blow a threesome. Take the lead in Game 2 of the World Series.

Vesia, whose fear ran through the veins of 52,725 fans at Chavez Ravine, replaced Treinen with the bases loaded and two outs and needed just one pitch to retire pinch-hitter Jose Trevino with a fly ball to center field for a 4-2 victory The Dodgers led 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.

“Blake limited the damage, he made pitches when he had to,” second baseman Kiké Hernández said. “He wasn't able to finish the game, but like we did all October, if someone doesn't do their job, someone will get behind them and pick them up, and that's exactly what Vesia did.”

Left-hander Anthony Banda replaced standout starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto and got the last two outs of the seventh inning, Kopech retired to preserve a 4-1 lead in the eighth inning, and it looked like the Dodgers surrendered only one hit in eight innings would result in a win.

But Treinen, who threw 22 pitches in 1⅓ innings in Friday night's 6-3 Game 1 victory, immediately ran into trouble when Juan Soto led off in the ninth with a single to right field and took second on a wild pitch.

Read more: Dodgers win Game 2, but will Shohei Ohtani's injury complicate road to World Series?

Treinen struck out slugger Aaron Judge with a nasty down-and-away sweeper at 85 mph, but Giancarlo Stanton ripped a hard grounder off the third-base bag for an RBI single that made it 4-2. Jazz Chisholm Jr. capped an eight-pitch at-bat with a single to right, and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

“I lived and died by every pitch,” said Daniel Hudson, a reliever who watched from the bullpen in left field. “This is as stressful as it gets, man.”

Hudson followed in Treinen's footsteps. He was the closer for the World Series-winning Washington Nationals in 2019, throwing multiple pitches in the postseason and throwing the final pitch of a Game 7 win in Houston.

“I get more nervous watching than when I’m actually on the mound,” Hudson said. “Seriously, it sucks. I hate it, especially in games like this, maybe because it's something that's out of my control and all I can do is sit there.”

Treinen was barely shaking in his cleats, despite the mess he had gotten himself into.

“You definitely feel the competition, but I play this game for God and the human pressure doesn’t bother me like it used to,” Treinen said. “I don’t really have the anxiety or stress of the moment.”

The more throws Treinen threw, the more pressure grew on manager Dave Roberts to make a change, “but I just felt like Blake had enough stuff to beat (Anthony) Volpe at that spot,” Roberts said.

Treinen rewarded his manager's faith by getting Volpe to chase another failed sweeper for a strikeout, but he was obviously gassed. Roberts called on Vesia to face left-handed catcher Austin Wells. Yankees manager Aaron Boone countered with right-hander Trevino.

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A 93-mile-per-hour fastball on the inside half of the plate produced a routine fly ball to center field, and the Dodgers celebrated a win that moved them within two wins of their eighth World Series title.

“It’s unbelievable,” Vesia said of his first save in the World Series. “That's everything to me, playing on the biggest stage, with the two best teams you can ever play for, the biggest franchises with the longest history, the list goes on.” It's very special.

“And if you had told me two and a half weeks ago when I was taken out of the Padres game (due to a chest strain), I would have told you that I probably wouldn't be here to pitch and be on the roster. I can't say enough about what the training staff did. Every day we’ve gotten a little better and we’re doing well.”

Vesia missed the NL Championship Series against the New York Mets, but showed he was fully recovered in Game 1 of the World Series, striking out two of three batters in a scoreless eighth.

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“Getting that inning was great,” Vesia said. “It was a huge confidence boost knowing that one, my speed was there and two, making sure I was controlling all of my pitches in the zone.”

Vesia, who went 5-4 with a 1.76 earned-run average in 67 regular-season games, has given up just one hit, struck out six and walked one in 4⅓ innings of five playoff games.

“In a perfect world, you would like to finish your inning … but I had full confidence when (Vesia) came in,” Treinen said. “Ves has consistently been our lockdown guy all year. He's had a phenomenal year and achieved great success, and what he did tonight was no different.

“We are all battle-hardened. If one of us fails to complete the task at hand, someone else will come and pick him up. I’d like to think I’ve been able to do that with some of my teammates in the past, just like any of the guys, and that’s why we’re a tight unit.”

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.