Two of baseball’s best teams gathered at Chavez Ravine on Friday night, the National League West-leading Dodgers and NL East-leading Atlanta Braves, opening a three-game series that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts , promised it would be “a good match, exciting for our fans and players.”
The clubs did not disappoint, entertaining a crowd of 50,859 with excellent starting pitching, three home runs, some clutch hits, great defensive play, a key pickoff and a dramatic walk-off hit in a game that was so good it could Don’t limit yourself to nine innings.
Dodgers rookie outfielder Andy Pages delivered the decisive blow in the bottom of the 11th inning, missing two full-count pitches from reliever Jesse Chavez before launching an RBI single to shallow right-center field for a 4-3 victorythe Dodgers’ ninth victory in 11 games.
See more information: How hitting with runners in scoring position has been Shohei Ohtani’s only flaw with the Dodgers
“Yeah, absolutely,” Roberts said, when asked if the game was a reminder of how evenly matched these teams are, “and I don’t think we needed tonight to validate that. On paper, they’re a pretty good ballclub, kind of set up to deal with all those lefties in the bullpen. … There were a lot of good things today. It was a fun baseball game.”
The teams traded runs in the 10th inning, Braves pinch-runner Luke Williams scoring on Orlando Arcia’s sacrifice fly to left field to give Atlanta a 3-2 lead in the first half and Shohei Ohtani hitting an RBI single to center the Braves closer Raisel Iglesias to tie the score at 3-3 in the bottom half.
Reliever Michael Grove gave the Dodgers a chance to win with a scoreless top in the 11th in which he retired leader Ronald Acuña Jr. on a pop-up to shortstop, Ozzie Albies on a grounder to second and Austin Riley on a grounder to third.
With automatic runner Will Smith at second, Max Muncy was intentionally walked to open the 11th. Teoscar Hernández hit a fielder’s choice, putting runners on first and third, with one out for Pages, who looked a little wobbly as he hit three Chávez pitches that were well off the base, missing two balls.
But Pages fought off an infield fastball and hit his fourth single of the night, his game-winner traveling all 205 feet with an exit velocity of 63.4 mph, but perfectly positioned to spark a wild celebration with his teammates in the infield.
“Every time he gets out there, it seems like he takes a good hit,” Roberts said of Pages. “The moment certainly doesn’t get too big for him. Shohei hit that big hit in the 10th inning to tie the game, you saw the emotion, Braves-Dodgers, packed house, and Andy didn’t let that moment get too big.
Pages said his game plan on that final drive was to keep things simple.
“Just hit the ball forward,” he said through an interpreter. “It’s happened to me in the past when I get anxious and can’t get work done. This time I was just trying to stay calm and things worked out.”
Pages, a 23-year-old Cuban, has played in just 15 games since his promotion to the big leagues on April 16, but has impressed the Dodgers with his poise and production, batting .333 (20-for-60) at .921. on-base plus slugging percentage, three home runs, five doubles and 11 RBIs, and his defense at three outfield positions.
“We believe in the player, in the person, but you have to come here and perform,” Roberts said. “With a young player, you don’t know what you have. Right now, he’s checking a lot of boxes and he’s acting. He is creating his own opportunities.
“A lot of young people, the game starts to accelerate and you can see them starting to expand. The moments start to get big and the game starts to get fast. But Andy has been able to slow the game down, stay within himself, every night.”
Another Dodgers rookie, right-hander Gavin Stone, pitched six strong innings in which he gave up one earned run and five hits, struck out six, walked one and leaned heavily on an 87 mph changeup that induced nine swinging strikes. He left with a 2-1 lead.
Braves starter Charlie Morton was almost as good as Stone, giving up two earned runs and five hits in six innings, striking out five and walking two.
Riley pulverized a 94 mph Stone fastball in the top of the first, sending a home run 449 feet to left center for a 1-0 lead that would have been 2-0 had Stone not hit Acuña at second base before Riley’s bomb.
The Dodgers threatened in the bottom of the second when Pages, who extended his hitting streak to nine games, reached on a fielder’s choice grounder and James Outman was hit by a pitch to score two with two outs.
Gavin Lux hit a single to left and Pages was waved home by third base coach Dino Ebel. Atlanta left fielder Jarred Kelenic fired a 95 mph pitch — accurate and fast — to catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who tagged in Pages to end the inning.
The Dodgers tied the score at 1-1 in the third when Ohtani walked, stole second and scored on Smith’s RBI single to left center, giving the Dodgers catcher 25 RBIs and tying him with Mookie Betts for the league lead. team.
Hernández put the Dodgers ahead in the fourth when he capped an eight-hit pitch by launching a fastball up and away at 95 mph over the right-center field wall for a solo home run, his seventh of the season, and a 2-1 lead.
Reliever Joe Kelly pitched a scoreless seventh for the Dodgers, but Acuña hit a full-count fastball from reliever Daniel Hudson over the left-field wall for a solo home run that tied the score at 2-2 at the top of the eighth.
See more information: Former Dodger Jayson Werth has a horse in the Kentucky Derby. It only took two years
It was just the second home run and eighth RBI of the season for Acuña, who hit .337 with a 1.012 on-base plus slugging percentage, 41 home runs, 106 RBIs and 73 stolen bases during his 2023 MVP season. start didn’t make Acuña any less dangerous in the eyes of the Dodgers.
“He’s one of the best players in baseball,” Roberts said. “He can hit you with his glove, with his arm, certainly with his foot speed, with his bat, there are punches there. He is simply dangerous. …Yes, seeing him [seven] times in the regular season is enough.
Rehabilitation Report
Blake Treinen, sidelined since early March because of fractured ribs, pitched scoreless innings in back-to-back AAA games for Oklahoma City on Wednesday and Thursday, and Roberts said the veteran right-hander could be activated in this homeland. “My hope,” Roberts said, “is that this is the last[minorleaguegamethatheneeded”[jogodaligasecundáriadequeeleprecisava”[minorleaguegamethatheneeded”
Right fielder Jason Heyward, who has been sidelined for a month because of lower back tightness, took a few swings in the batting cage, ran at full speed and humped balls in the outfield on Friday, but is at least one week of beginning a minor league rehab period of three or four games.
“He’s making some big strides in being pain-free and how his body is moving,” Roberts said. “He’s in a good position.”
Veteran left-hander Clayton Kershaw, six months removed from shoulder surgery, threw 15 pitches out of a bullpen on Friday, his first such workout in his recovery. Right-hander Bobby Miller, sidelined with shoulder inflammation on April 13, also pulled out of a bullpen on Friday and is expected to face hitters next week.
Short jump
Betts was named National League Player of the Month after hitting .368 with a 1.101 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, six home runs and 23 RBIs in March and April. It was the Dodgers shortstop’s second recognition after receiving the honor in August 2023.
Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the beginning of each series.
This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.
