Andy Pages clutch hit, sturdy bullpen carry

ATLANTA — Without Andy Pages, the Dodgers wouldn’t have popped champagne in the Truist Park visiting clubhouse Wednesday night time.

His October monitor document prompt he was an unlikely hero. He entered Wednesday with a .123 playoff batting average. He was benched in Game 5 of the World Series last 12 months. He’d even began this postseason hitless in the first two video games of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, and was given the purple gentle on ABS challenges.

He didn’t carry any of that up to the plate with him in the seventh inning, with the rating tied, the bases loaded and hard-throwing Braves reliever Robert Suarez coming into the sport to face him.

“I like being in those at-bats,” Pages said in Spanish after the Dodgers’ 4-1 win in Game 4 of the NLDS. “There are times the result comes, sometimes not, but I prepare to be in those spots. And today I was able to get the result.”

He was affected person, working a full rely as he fouled off and then foul-tipped a pair of fastballs in the zone.

The next one, he despatched through the center of the infield for a two-run single to finally give the Dodgers the lead in the deciding second of the collection.

The Dodgers are headed to the NL Championship Series for the ninth time in 14 seasons. They will play the Milwaukee Brewers, who completed off the San Diego Padres in 4 video games, beginning Sunday. And they got here one step nearer to their purpose of profitable a third straight World Series.

Pages hascontributed to the last two titles with his regular-season play and his glove. The game-saving catch he made in Game 7 of the World Series last 12 months, trampling Kiké Hernández in the method, has been immortalized in bobblehead type. But now, he has a big second with his bat.

“There’s never been a doubt about him, his talent,” Hernández said. “You can’t carry previous postseasons into this postseason. Everything is a new chapter. Every time you take the field in October, you get an opportunity to rewrite your story. So the fact that he struggled in the previous couple postseasons doesn’t mean that was going to happen again this year.

“I mean, during the regular season, you have two bad games and nobody freaks out about it, but because people are adding up previous postseasons, they’re going to freak out. But nobody doubted him. That’s why he stayed in the lineup. And I’m really happy that he was the one that won us a series.”

The indicators of a potential breakout have been there. When Pages got here back from a fractured left hand for the ultimate week of the season, he didn’t miss a beat.

Then he went 0 for 7 in the first two video games of the NLDS, and supervisor Dave Roberts said he needed to see him “slow down a little bit.”

“I’m going to continue to give Andy leash,” Roberts said. “I believe in him. I feel that for us to win the World Series this year, we’re gonna need him to be an active part of our team.”

Pages recorded two hits in Game 3 and logged another single in his first at-bat Wednesday.

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“Everybody really forgets how young Andy Pages is, you know?” veteran infielder Miguel Rojas said of the 25-year-old. “He’s just starting his career. He’s still like a rookie in this clubhouse for us, because he’s one of the youngest. But at the same time, we see his potential, we see what he can do on the field and we feel so proud of him because … whenever he has the opportunity to contribute to this team, he does it in different ways. Defensively, offensively and on the bases.”

On Wednesday, Pages already had confirmed off his vary in heart area when he tracked down a fly ball off Matt Olson’s bat in the left-field hole. But the Dodgers desperately needed somebody to contribute with runners in scoring place.

The sport had been tied at one run apiece since the second inning.

The lone run Dodgers beginning pitcher Tyler Glasnow gave up was made potential by Braves leadoff hitter Michael Harris II’s velocity. He obtained on top of Glasnow’s first pitch, a fastball up and out of the strike zone, to shoot a single through the fitting aspect.

Harris then stole second and superior on a groundout. Then, in an 0-and-2 rely to Ozzie Albies, Glasnow spiked a curveball in entrance of the plate. Catcher Will Smith managed to block the ball, despite the high bounce, but it rolled back toward the mound, giving Harris time to sprint home.

Glasnow restricted the Braves to one hit in 4-2/3 innings. But 5 walks prevented him from pitching deeper into the sport.

The Dodgers couldn’t get something going against Braves starter Tyler Mahle, either.

They hadn’t confronted Mahle since April, when he was with the San Francisco Giants and racking up a 5.13 ERA. But he’d been lights out since the Braves acquired him, authoring a 1.99 ERA. In his postseason debut, he restricted the Philadelphia Phillies to one run in seven innings.

The Dodgers noticed that new and improved model of him on Wednesday.

The one run the Dodgers scored against him was one thing of a fluke.

In the second inning, Shohei Ohtani, who moved up to the cleanup spot after hitting fifth the day before, drew a five-pitch stroll without taking a swing. He then stole second base, drawing an errant throw that allowed him to advance to third. So, he was in place to rating the tying run when Braves shortstop Mauricio Dubón, who robbed Freddie Freeman of a home run as the left fielder the day before, dropped a popup in shallow left.

The Dodgers recorded only three hits against Mahle in 6⅓ innings. So, the sport would come down to the bullpens.

In the seventh, the Dodgers loaded the bases with a single from Teoscar Hernández, a stroll from pinch-hitting rookie Josue De Paula, and a five-pitch stroll from Kyle Tucker.

The Dodgers had gone 0 for 15 with runners in scoring place for the collection when Pages stepped to the plate.

“It’s been incredible, especially the way he’s working, just to be ready for these big moments,” Teoscar Hernández said. “I think he was a little bit off his timing at the beginning of the series. Now that he understands he doesn’t have to do too much to help this team win games, I think everything is coming back to the way it was before he got hurt.

“He’s one of the best on the team. We get to this point because of him, the regular season he had. This is not a surprise for me that he’s having this kind of moment in the playoffs.”

Pages didn’t appear stunned, either.

“What happened last year, happened,” he said. “It’s in the past now. All I can do now is be in the moment. And being in the moment today, I was able to get the result.”