He pounded his chest twice as he left the batter’s box, and all of Dodgers nation rocked to the beat.
Andy Pages did it. He finally did it. He finally broke out of his baffling two-year October slump with a hit so powerful, he didn’t even have to climb over Kiké Hernández to get it.
How powerful? With one smooth swing he broke a tie by scoring two runs while sending two teams packing, the Atlanta Braves trudging home for the winter and the Dodgers charging into the National League Championship Series.
Yeah, it was a blast, both figuratively and literally, Pages’ two-out, two-strike bases-loaded single in the seventh inning Wednesday night silencing the lame tomahawk-chopping fans at Truist Park and giving the Dodgers an eventual clinching 4-1 victory against the Braves in the National League Division Series.
Certainly, it only gets tougher from here. In winning this best-of-five series three games to one, the Dodgers can now prepare for a best-of-seven showdown task against either the mighty Milwaukee Brewers or blazing San Diego Padres.
Yes, they will need to hit better, they will need Blake Snell to find his focus, they will need Shohei Ohtani to show up.
But…Andy Pages! Seriously! If a guy who was seven for 66 in the last two postseasons and was so helpless last year he was benched for the last three games of the World Series…if that guy can drive in the winning run from the bottom of the order? The once-fallible Dodgers may just be unbeatable.
“There’s no more talented team than the Los Angeles Dodgers,” manager Dave Roberts shouted in the postgame clubhouse. “We’re the best organization in sports, top to bottom. We’re smarter, we’re better, and we’re tougher.”
It’s OK to start seriously thinking about a three-peat now. They’re now just eight wins away but, given how mediocre the American League playoff teams appear, they could realistically be just four wins away.
Here’s guessing that the NLCS will be the real World Series. And here’s guessing the Dodgers will be ready.
Pages, who won the hearts of Dodger fans last October when he made a leaping game-saving catch over the back of Kiké Hernández, was granted his first big October swing thanks to the Braves largess.
In the seventh inning of a 1-all tie, Teoscar Hernández redeemed himself for another fielding blunder with a single that finally drove dizzying Tyler Mahle from the game.
In came Game 2 rookie sensation Didier Fuentes, only this time, he was all rookie and zero sensation, walking Josue De Paula and Kyle Tucker to load the bases. Considering De Paula is just a kid and Tucker has been struggling, the fact that both showed such patience in such a pressure situation was pretty cool. And moments later, it got even cooler.
In came veteran reliever Robert Suarez, and Pages was ready for him, working the count full before lining the two-run single up the middle.
The Dodgers added a run two innings later on a Max Muncy home run — has there ever been a playoff game when he hasn’t homered? — to finalize the score.
When the game ended on an Austin Riley fly out to right field, Pages celebrated in center field by taking off his cap, turning his face to the sky and pounding the cap three times into his glove.
It was a series that was worth the emotion, the Dodgers famous starting rotation giving up just four runs in 21 ⅓ innings, the bullpen solid behind a revived Edwin Díaz, and the offense doing just enough to beat Braves aces Chris Sale and Mahle.
In the fifth inning of a tie game, starter Tyler Glasnow issued walks to Riley and Michael Harris II. With two out, in came Alex Vesia. Up stepped slugger Matt Olson. The fans climbed to their feet. This was the Braves’ big chance.
But Olson swung at the first pitch and lined it directly to second baseman Kiké Hernández to end the threat and quiet the joint. Díaz threw a hitless ninth for his second save of the series and…who’s going to beat them?
The only glaring weakness was, once again, the superstar who used to be their strength. Ohtani scored the Dodgers’ first run after drawing a walk but went hitless in three ensuing at-bats. He only got two hits in the four-game series and you have to wonder if his injury-wracked body would be better out of the lineup.
How well are they playing without the full services of their most historic player? On the verge of making history, the Dodgers don’t even miss him.
The post He finally did it! Dodgers’ Andy Pages ends two-year postseason slump at the perfect time appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
