ATLANTA – Without Andy Pages, the Dodgers wouldn’t have been drinking champagne in the visiting clubhouse at Truist Park on Wednesday night. His record in October suggested 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 year. He had even started this postseason with no hits in the first two games of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, and was given the red light in the ABS challenges. He didn’t carry any of that to the plate with him in the seventh inning, with the score tied, the bases loaded and Braves reliever Robert Suarez entering the game to face him. “I like being in those at-bats,” Pages said in Spanish after the Dodgers’ 4-1 victory in Game 4 of the NLDS. “There are times when the result comes, sometimes it doesn’t, but I prepare myself to be in those places. And today I was able to get the result.” He was patient, working a full count while drawing a foul and then throwing a couple fastballs in the zone. The next, he sent up the middle of the infield for a two-run single to finally give the Dodgers the lead in the series’ deciding moment. They will play the Milwaukee Brewers, who finished off the San Diego Padres in four games, starting Sunday. And they were one step closer to their goal of winning a third consecutive World Series. Pages has contributed 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 year, stomping Kiké Hernández in the process, has been immortalized in bobblehead form. But now he has a great moment with his bat. “There has never been a doubt about him, his talent,” Hernandez said. “You can’t carry previous postseasons into this postseason. Everything is a new chapter. Every time you go out on the field in October, you have the opportunity to rewrite your history. So just because you struggled in the previous two postseasons doesn’t mean that’s going to happen again this year. “I mean, during the regular season, you have two bad games and nobody gets scared about it, but because people are adding up previous postseasons, they’re going to get scared. But no one doubted him. That’s why he stayed in the lineup. And I’m very happy that he was the one who won us a series.” The signs of a potential breakout were there. When Pages returned from a broken left hand during the final week of the season, he didn’t miss a beat. He then went 0 for 7 in the first two games of the NLDS, and manager Dave Roberts said he wanted to see him “slow down a little bit.” “I’m going to continue to give Andy a run for his money,” Roberts said. “I believe in him. I feel like to win the World Series this year, we’re going to need him to be an active part of our team.” Pages recorded two hits in Game 3 and recorded another single in his first at-bat on Wednesday. Share via Close additional sharing options “Everyone 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 are very 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 had already shown his range in center field when he located a fly ball off Matt Olson’s bat in the left field gap. But the Dodgers desperately needed someone to contribute runners in scoring position. The game had been tied at one run apiece since the second inning. The only run allowed by Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow was made possible by the speed of Braves leadoff hitter Michael Harris II. top of Glasnow’s first pitch, a fastball up and out of the strike zone, to hit a single through the right side. Harris then stole second and advanced on a groundout. Then, on a count of 0 and 2 to Ozzie Albies, Glasnow hit a curve ball in front of the plate, despite the high bounce, but it rolled to the mound, giving Harris time to run home. Glasnow limited the Braves to one. hit. Dodgers saw that new and improved version of him on Wednesday. The only run the Dodgers scored against him was something of a fluke. In the second inning, Shohei Ohtani, who moved up to the cleanup spot after batting fifth the previous day, drew a five-pitch walk without swinging. He then stole second base, taking an errant throw that allowed him to advance to third. who robbed Freddie Freeman of a home run as a left fielder the day before, dropped a fly ball into the bottom left field. The Dodgers recorded just three hits against Mahle in 6⅓ innings, so the game would come down to the bullpens in the seventh, the Dodgers loaded the bases with a single by Teoscar Hernandez, a walk by pinch-hit rookie Josue De Paula, and a five-pitch walk by Kyle Tucker 15th. series when Pages stepped up to the plate. “It’s been incredible, especially the way he’s working, just to be ready for these big moments,” Teoscar Hernandez said. “I think he was a little out of time at the beginning of the series. Now that he understands that he doesn’t have to do too much to help this team win games, I think everything is getting back to the way it was before he got hurt. “He’s one of the best on the team. We got to this point because of him, because of the regular season he had. It’s not a surprise to me that he’s having this kind of moment in the playoffs.” Pages didn’t seem surprised either. “What happened last year, happened,” he said. “It’s a thing of the past now. All I can do now is be in the moment. And by being in the moment today, I was able to get the result.”
