{"id":874911,"date":"2026-10-08T08:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T08:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/874911\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T08:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T08:12:13","slug":"andy-pages-clutch-hit-sturdy-bullpen-carry-dodgers-back-to-nlcs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/874911\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Pages’ clutch hit, sturdy bullpen carry Dodgers back to NLCS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ATLANTA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Without Andy Pages<\/a>, the Dodgers<\/a> wouldn\u2019t have popped champagne<\/a> in the Truist Park visiting clubhouse Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

His October track record 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<\/a> last year. He\u2019d even started this postseason hitless in the first two games of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves<\/a>, and was given the red light on ABS challenges.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t carry any of that up to the plate with him in the seventh inning, with the score tied, the bases loaded and hard-throwing Braves reliever Robert Suarez entering the game to face him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like being in those at-bats,\u201d Pages said in Spanish after the Dodgers\u2019 4-1 win in Game 4 of the NLDS. \u201cThere are times the result comes, sometimes not, but I prepare to be in those spots. And today I was able to get the result.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was patient, working a full count as he fouled off and then foul-tipped a pair of fastballs in the zone.<\/p>\n

The next one, he sent through the middle of the infield for a two-run single to finally give the Dodgers the lead in the deciding moment of the series.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers are headed to the NL Championship Series for the ninth time in 14 seasons. They will play the Milwaukee Brewers, who finished off the San Diego Padres in four games, starting Sunday. And they came one step closer to their goal of winning a third straight World Series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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 year, trampling Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez in the process, has been immortalized in bobblehead form. But now, he has a big moment with his bat.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s never been a doubt about him, his talent,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cYou can\u2019t 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\u2019t mean that was going to happen again this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2019re going to freak out. But nobody doubted him. That\u2019s why he stayed in the lineup. And I\u2019m really happy that he was the one that won us a series.\u201d<\/p>\n

The signs of a potential breakout were there. When Pages came back from a fractured left hand for the final week of the season, he didn\u2019t miss a beat.<\/p>\n

Then he went 0 for 7 in the first two games of the NLDS, and manager Dave Roberts<\/a> said he wanted to see him \u201cslow down a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to continue to give Andy leash,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI believe in him. I feel that for us to win the World Series this year, we\u2019re gonna need him to be an active part of our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pages recorded two hits in Game 3 and logged another single in his first at-bat Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Share via Close extra sharing options <\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody really forgets how young Andy Pages is, you know?\u201d veteran infielder Miguel Rojas<\/a> said of the 25-year-old. \u201cHe\u2019s just starting his career. He\u2019s still like a rookie in this clubhouse for us, because he\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Pages already had showed off his range in center field when he tracked down a fly ball off Matt Olson\u2019s bat in the left-field gap. But the Dodgers desperately needed someone to contribute with runners in scoring position.<\/p>\n

The game had been tied at one run apiece since the second inning.<\/p>\n

The lone run Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow<\/a> gave up was made possible by Braves leadoff hitter Michael Harris II\u2019s speed. He got on top of Glasnow\u2019s first pitch, a fastball up and out of the strike zone, to shoot a single through the right side.<\/p>\n

Harris then stole second and advanced on a groundout. Then, in an 0-and-2 count to Ozzie Albies, Glasnow spiked a curveball in front 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 dash home.<\/p>\n

Glasnow limited the Braves to one hit in 4-2\/3 innings. But five walks prevented him from pitching deeper into the game.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The Dodgers couldn\u2019t get anything going against Braves starter Tyler Mahle, either.<\/p>\n

They hadn\u2019t faced Mahle since April, when he was with the San Francisco Giants and racking up a 5.13 ERA. But he\u2019d been lights out since the Braves acquired him, authoring a 1.99 ERA. In his postseason debut, he limited the Philadelphia Phillies to one run in seven innings.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers saw that new and improved version of him on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The one run the Dodgers scored against him was something of a fluke. <\/p>\n

In the second inning, Shohei Ohtani, who moved up to the cleanup spot after hitting fifth the day before<\/a>, drew a five-pitch walk without taking a swing. He then stole second base, drawing an errant throw that allowed him to advance to third. So, he was in position to score the tying run when Braves shortstop Mauricio Dub\u00f3n, who robbed Freddie Freeman of a home run as the left fielder the day before, dropped a popup in shallow left.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers recorded only three hits against Mahle in 6\u2153 innings. So, the game would come down to the bullpens.<\/p>\n

In the seventh, the Dodgers loaded the bases with a single from Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a>, a walk from pinch-hitting rookie Josue De Paula<\/a>, and a five-pitch walk from Kyle Tucker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers had gone 0 for 15 with runners in scoring position for the series when Pages stepped to the plate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been incredible, especially the way he\u2019s working, just to be ready for these big moments,\u201d Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cI think he was a little bit off his timing at the beginning of the series. Now that he understands he doesn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s 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\u2019s having this kind of moment in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pages didn\u2019t seem surprised, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened last year, happened,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Without Andy Pages, the Dodgers wouldn\u2019t have popped champagne in the Truist Park visiting clubhouse Wednesday night. His…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[8971,13087,368276,16221,4279,15635,368277,5460,52717,35909,19630,99,368275,77351,6601,19632],"class_list":["post-874911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-andy-pages","tag-braves","tag-clutch-hit","tag-count","tag-dodgers","tag-field","tag-fielder-teoscar-hernandez","tag-game","tag-glasnow","tag-inning","tag-run","tag-sports","tag-sturdy-bullpen","tag-walk","tag-wednesday","tag-world-series"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}