In theory, the Dodgers’ decision to go for a bullpen game in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday made sense.

The club’s lockdown relief corps had just been given a rare night off, thanks to Jack Flaherty’s seven-inning gem in Game 1. Walker Buehler was an option to make a more traditional start, but the Dodgers wanted to save him for Game 3 in New York. instead of.

So they planned to reverse the pitching plan that worked so well in Game 4 of the NL Division Series, when they avoided elimination by throwing a group-effort shutout against eight different pitchers.

The only problem: The Dodgers refused to use their highest-leverage relievers early in the game this time.

And before they could ever get to it, the score was already out of reach.

In a 7-3 loss to the New York Mets in Game 2, the Dodgers’ record-tying 33-inning postseason scoreless streak came to a quick end – and in disastrous fashion.

Right-handed opener Ryan Brasier gave up a leadoff homerun to Francisco Lindor in the first at bat of the game. Then the real disaster occurred in a five-run second inning against rookie right-hander Landon Knack.

“Obviously,” Knack said, “I didn’t set the tone very well for everyone else.”

During last week’s Game 4 win over the Padres, Knack — the former second-round draft pick whose solid rookie season wasn’t enough to warrant full starting pitching duties in the playoffs — didn’t take the mound until the ninth inning, when the Dodgers had an eight-run lead.

But on Monday, he was the first pitcher to trot out of the bullpen. Not Anthony Banda (who arrived in the second inning of Game 4 in the NLDS). Not Michael Kopech (who was called up for the third inning that night). And neither do the team’s other dominant relievers.

In retrospect…it was a costly decision.

After giving up a leadoff single and putting another runner on base with a walk, Knack failed to stop the bleeding. Tyrone Taylor ripped an RBI double down the left field line for one run. After an intentional walk to Lindor loaded the bases, Mark Vientos worked a nine-pitch at-bat that ended with a grand slam.

New York’s Mark Vientos celebrates as he runs past Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman after hitting a grand slam in the second inning of Game 2 of the NLCS on Monday.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Just like that it was 6-0 Mets.

“I just felt like today he wasn’t sharp overall, especially on the secondary pitches,” Roberts said, noting that Taylor’s double came on a hanging curveball, and that Vientos’ homer came on a fastball with full count only came after Knack failed to put the at bat away with four consecutive two-strike sliders.

“We had a chance to minimize the damage … and then you make a mistake with your heating,” Roberts added. “That was obviously a big hit.”

Unlike last week, Roberts said on Monday that the intention was to always use Knack early in the match.

The team knew it would need at least a few innings from him, as they had to compensate for the absence of two key figures from last week’s bullpen game: left-handed reliever Alex Vesia (out of this series with an injury) and right-handed reliever Daniel Hudson (unavailable Monday after pitching in Game 1).

And even when Knack began to struggle in the second inning, Roberts said he had no choice but to ride out the inning or find himself handcuffed by a possible lack of pitching opportunities later in the game.

“You’re going to someone else (in that inning),” Roberts said, “we’re not going to have (enough pitching to) finish the game.”

Things went so bad that the Dodgers avoided using high-leverage weapons entirely, outside of an 18-pitch fourth inning from Banda (their only left-hander in this series with Vesia out).

Brent Honeywell Jr. pitched three scoreless innings. Edgardo Henriquez gave up one run in the last two.

As a result, the team’s top three relievers — Kopech, Blake Treinen and Evan Phillips — will enter Game 3 on four days of rest.

For Roberts, that was at least one silver lining of Monday.

But it did little to counter the series’ sudden change in momentum.

“It’s going to be a long series,” outfielder Mookie Betts said. “We expect it to be a long, tough series.”

Granted, poor pitching wasn’t the only reason the Dodgers lost on Monday.

Their bats went cold against Mets left-hander Sean Manaea, who entered the game with a career 7.09 ERA against the Dodgers but held them scoreless until a solo homer by Max Muncy in the bottom of the fifth.

And even after they got back within 6-3 and scored a pair of runs in the sixth on two miscues from the Mets infield, Kiké Hernández came up empty twice while representing the tying or go-ahead run, rolling into a bases-loaded double play . to end the sixth before flying off with two on board to end the eighth.

“I have really good pitches to hit,” Hernández said. “It just didn’t happen today.”

With the next three games of the series taking place at Citi Field, the Dodgers can only hope their starting rotation avoids the same fate.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani reacts after striking out in the first inning against the Mets in Game 2 of the NLCS at Dodger Stadium on Monday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

On paper, the Dodgers won’t maintain the pitching advantage in Game 3, when Buehler (who went 1-6 with a 5.38 ERA in the regular season and gave up six runs in his only NLDS start) will duel Luis Severino (who is his 11-7 record and 3.91 ERA in the regular season with a pair of good starts in the playoffs).

And unless the Dodgers get the good version Yoshinobu Yamamoto the next day (the one who threw five shutout innings against the Padres in Game 5, instead of the version who was bowled over for five runs in Game 1), the Game 4 matchup would could be a matchup. toss-up as well, with Mets veteran Jose Quintana yet to allow an earned run in 11 postseason innings after posting a 10–10 record and 3.75 ERA in the regular season.

The good news for the Dodgers is that, with a rested bullpen, they should be well positioned to secure a lead in both games.

Game 5 also offers a more favorable proposition, when Flaherty will appear to pitch for the second time in this series.

“We’re very well rested,” catcher Will Smith said of the prospect of a longer run. “A lot of roster depth, actually one through 26. It’s going to be a battle. We knew it would be like this.”

But as Monday showed, the Dodgers can no longer view a potential bullpen matchup later in the series as any guarantee.

“It’s all great when it’s working well and the guys are throwing outs, but you’re still dealing with really good ball clubs,” Roberts said. “If you’re on the margins and you lose a few guys and there are no more guys available” – like Vesia and Hudson – “you have to figure out how to get out of that somehow.”

On Monday that duty fell to Knack.

He failed to deliver. The rest of the game script was discarded. And the NLCS now goes to New York, all square for one game apiece.