PHOENIX – At some point, the Dodgers have to stop beating themselves. Tuesday night at Chase Field was yet another chapter in a painfully familiar script: a dominant Shohei Ohtani start, early offensive production, and then… a bullpen implosion, aided and abetted by another questionable decision from Dave Roberts.

The Dodgers fell 5-4 to the Arizona Diamondbacks, wasting a brilliant final regular-season start by Ohtani, who delivered six shutout innings in his longest outing of the year. But the story, once again, wasn’t about what the Dodgers did right — it was about what their manager did wrong.

With a one-run lead in the ninth, Roberts turned to Tanner Scott — a reliever whose leash should have been shortened weeks ago. Instead, Scott was handed the keys to the ninth inning and promptly crashed the car. Hit-by-pitch. Four-pitch walk. A bunt. A game-tying sac fly. Then, with two outs, Geraldo Perdomo laced a walk-off single to left. Ballgame.

And perhaps season-altering.

“Should of won that game. It was my fault,” Scott said after the game.

   

Scott was in all over the zone with only seven of his pitches. He threw 21 pitches tonight, 18 sliders compared to just 3 fastballs. 

“Getting behind, walking guys, hits batter, that’s just a sign of, you’re either scared or you’re pitching too careful,” Roberts said.

Honest words, but it’s hard to blame a pitcher for being who he’s shown he is. The genuine fault lies in Roberts’ refusal to accept the obvious: Scott cannot be trusted in high-leverage spots — not now, and not in October.

This isn’t hindsight talking. It’s pattern recognition. Scott has now been tagged with yet another blown save in a season where the Dodgers’ bullpen has already racked up 26 — 10 coming from Scott’s arm. This wasn’t his first meltdown. It probably won’t be his last. But it needs to be his last in a tight game with postseason implications. Scott (1-4, 4.91 ERA) has done the best he can on the mound, and it should be the end for him this season.

   

Make no mistake, this wasn’t just another game. The Dodgers haven’t clinched the division yet. They’re fighting for home-field advantage in the Wild Card round. They had their ace — their two-way superstar — on the mound dealing for six innings. Ohtani was nothing short of electric: six innings, five hits, no runs, no walks, eight strikeouts, and 91 pitches of command, grit, and poise. He even worked through a scare in the third when a comebacker deflected off his glove hand. Didn’t faze him. He struck out the next three.

Ohtani’s effort should have earned him his second win of the year. Instead, it goes down as a no-decision. A waste.

And yet, he wasn’t alone in delivering. Teoscar Hernández drove in the Dodgers’ first three runs — a solo homer and a two-run triple — giving L.A. a 3-0 cushion. Ben Rortvedt added a solo shot of his own, his first as a Dodger. The offense did its job.

Even the early bullpen choices made sense. Jack Dreyer allowed a run, but Edgardo Henriquez made a mistake to Adrian Del Castillo, and Del Castillo made him pay with a two-run homer. That’s the risk with young arms — they’re inconsistent, but at least there’s upside.

The same can’t be said for the veterans who keep getting second chances. Alex Vesia barely escaped the eighth after two walks. Then, with the game hanging in the balance, Roberts went to Scott — again. It’s as if the Dodgers don’t learn from their own mistakes. The bullpen hierarchy remains a mess, a revolving door of underperformers and miscast roles.

And now, with five games left, the Dodgers are dangerously close to slipping out of home-field advantage in the Wild Card round. Every game matters — especially one where your ace goes six scoreless.

The frustrating part? It was all avoidable.

   

Roberts has made numerous head-scratching decisions during his tenure, but this season — and especially this month — his bullpen management has felt reactive rather than strategic. The team is talented enough to win in October. But talent alone doesn’t get you far in the postseason. You need clarity. Consistency. A plan.

Right now, it feels like the Dodgers are guessing.

And with October looming, that’s a dangerous place to be.

If the Dodgers fall short again this year, we won’t have to look far to find the moment it started to unravel. Tuesday night in Arizona was a microcosm of a bigger problem. The manager who keeps making the same mistake. The reliever who keeps blowing the same leads. And a team that should be cruising toward the playoffs is still stuck cleaning up its own mess.