Heres how Dave Roberts explained all the Dodgers

You don’t need to hear from me. You need to hear from Dave Roberts, the Dodgers’ supervisor.

The Dodgers are one loss from an abrupt ending to their season, and from a National League Championship Series sweep by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Let’s take you through the vital selections Roberts made Wednesday evening, the ones you second-guessed at home. They all just about backfired on him.

Situation: In the third inning, and again in the fifth inning, Tommy Edman comes to bat with Miguel Rojas on first base, none out, and the Dodgers trailing, 1-0. By the end of the fifth, the Dodgers had gone 9 consecutive innings without scoring, and with a sport plan of getting forward before the Brewers’ vaunted bullpen might take over. Roberts doesn’t ask Edman, one of the workforce’s most completed bunters, to sacrifice the runner into scoring place.

Roberts: “I just didn’t feel like giving up an out right there. … We could have bunted, but I felt I wanted to give Tommy an opportunity to drive in a run. … We haven’t been getting hits with runners in scoring position (3 for 32 in the postseason). To give up an out, to bank on getting a hit with runners in scoring position, I’d rather just try to maybe slug, hit a double.”

Result: Edman flied out both occasions. The Dodgers didn’t rating in either inning.

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Situation: In the sixth inning, with the Dodgers still trailing, 1-0, the Brewers flip to Abner Uribe, who had confronted 26 batters and walked two in the postseason. Uribe walks the first two batters, and Roberts deploys his major left-handed bench risk, Max Muncy. That takes right-handed Andy Pages out of the sport; the only Dodgers with more hits than Pages this October are Kyle Tucker and Mookie Betts.

Roberts: “Abner is death on righties. You’re trying to guard against — you want to keep the inning going, and you don’t want a double play ball. Muncy’s not starting, and you want to fire that bullet in a leverage spot. First and second base, nobody out, it gives us the best chance to keep the inning going, in my opinion, and it gets Shohei up, and you have a chance to build an inning.”

Result: Muncy struck out.

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Situation: After Muncy, Ohtani walks to load the bases, and Will Smith follows with a two-run double to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. With the right-handed Rojas due up, Roberts opts for the left-handed Josue De Paula as a pinch-hitter. Brewers supervisor Pat Murphy promptly replaces Uribe with left-hander DL Hall, who had been warming up. Roberts counters with the right-handed Kiké Hernández.

Roberts: “It’s a decision: Do I want Uribe facing Rojas? Then I chose De Paula, and they made the move. At that point in time, I felt we had the matchup advantage with Kiké. … For me, all the experience that Kiké’s had, I feel very confident with Kiké taking a bat with a guy on second and third, infield in.”

Result: Hernandez struck out, and so did Edman. The inning was over, and the Dodgers wouldn’t advance another man past first base the relaxation of the night. The Dodgers might have used De Paula to bat against right-handed nearer Trevor Megill in the ninth inning, but Roberts had already burned him.

Murphy said Uribe was popping out after Smith’s double no matter what — at that level, Uribe had thrown six strikes and 14 balls — so Roberts might have saved De Paula had he waited to see what Murphy would do.

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Situation: Blake Snell has retired 14 consecutive batters coming into the seventh inning, with the Dodgers main, 2-1. It’s the first time the left-handed Snell has pitched past the sixth inning this season, with the right-handed Andrew Vaughn main off and the left-handed Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell to comply with. Evan Phillips is warming up in the Dodgers bullpen.

Roberts: “His stuff was really good. I don’t think they were seeing him well. I was trying to get him three more hitters. We had Evan for that fourth hitter.”

Result: Vaughn walks, on six pitches. Bauers homers, on 11 pitches. The Brewers have the lead, 3-2.

Roberts: “Hasn’t given up a homer all year, but it just — it’s baseball. For me, I felt good with where Blake’s stuff was at. You’ve got to give Bauers credit.”

Situation: By that time, Snell is at 99 pitches, two shy of his season high, after the exhausting battles with Vaughn and Bauers. Roberts sticks to his plan: Snell for Mitchell, then Phillips for the right-handed Cooper Pratt.

Result: Mitchell homers, giving the Brewers a 4-2 lead. Hall and Megill mix for 3 1/3 innings of scoreless reduction, and the Dodgers are one defeat from winter trip.