CHAVEZ RAVINE — It’s been a while since Andy Pages left Cuba to chase his big league dreams, nine years to be exact. And in that time, the Dodgers’ centerfielder has only seen his father Liban twice in all that time. Which makes a Father’s Day game in faraway LA even more poignant. But Pages let his bat honor su papá. He smashed a three-run, go-ahead home run in the bottom of the fifth to give the Dodgers all the runs they needed to defeat the San Francisco Giants by a score of 5-4 to take the series and expand their lead in the NL East.
Dustin May opened the game with a quick 1-2-3 inning to get the Dodgers back to the bat rack. Once there, they immediately got to work against opener Sean Hjelle, pressed into emergency service after Kyle Harrison got dealt as part of the blockbuster Rafael Devers trade. Shohei Ohtani ripped a single up the middle, followed by a scorching lineout off the bat of Mookie Betts. Freddie Freeman followed it up with a solid single of his own, and when Teoscar Hernandez walked, the bases were loaded with just one out. Though it could have been a lot better, they did score one run out of the deal with an Andy Pages sac fly.
They added another run in the bottom of the second when Tommy Edman drilled a high strike from Hjelle to deep center field for a 400-foot solo home run. The game went into the middle innnings with the Dodgers holding a 2-0 lead.
However, in the top of the fourth, things went sideways for May, mostly of his own doing. After gettting two quick outs, he surrendered a single to Mike Yastrzemski, followed by an HBP to light-hitting catcher Logan Porter to move a runner into scoring position. That was all the Giants needed to pounce. Nine-hole hitter Christian Koss hit an RBI single to get the Giants on the board, and Jun Hoo Lee hit a bases-clearing triple past Freddie Freeman to give the Giants a 3-2 advantage. If the Dodgers were to win this one they’d have to come from behind.
The Giants milked Hjelle for all he was worth, getting 3 2/3 innings out of him before turning it over to the bullpen with the lead. The Dodgers had a couple of quiet innings, and then May ran into more two-out trouble in the fifth when a walk, a double, and an intentional pass loaded up the bases. However, the intentional walk to the left-handed Yastrzemski worked out well, as May induced weak infield contact from Logan Porter to wriggle off the hook.
The bottom of the fifth started off well with back-to-back singles from Ohtani and Betts. Freddie Freeman did his job, moving both runners into scoring position with a ground ball to the right side. That brought Bob Melvin to the mound for a pitching change. Ryan Walker took over for Joey Lucchesi and would face the heart of the Dodgers’ order. With the infield pulled in, Teoscar Hernandez couldn’t get the job done, striking out and leaving it up to Andy Pages. And Pages came through big time. After narrowly missing a home run foul to left, Pages took the next pitch from Walker and drilled it over the fence in left center for a go-ahead three-run homer. The ball landed among the paying customers in the pavilion, and the Dodgers were back in front, 5-3.
Pitching with the lead, May was able to navigate around a two-out single and finish out his day with a scoreless frame. Other than the hiccup in the fourth, Code Red acquitted himself rather well: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 3 K.
The Dodgers went scoreless in the bottom of the sixth, so the game went into the late innings with the home team’s 5-3 advantage intact. Alex Vesia was first up out of the bullpen and threw a nifty 1-2-3 inning to take the game into the seventh inning stretch. Kirby Yates was up next. The righty struck out Mike Yastrzemski to lead off the frame, but then gave up a solo homer to pinch hitter Daniel Johnson that cut the Dodgers’ lead in half. Yates was hot on the mound, as he got squeezed on the previous pitch–which would have been strike three–by home plate umpire C.B. Buckner. However, he gathered himself and got out of the eighth with no further damage.
The Dodgers got nothing going in their half of the eighth, so it was up to Tanner Scott to bring home the victory. And he did just that. A quick (some might say dominant) 1-2-3 frame, striking out the side on just 13 pitches.
Having navigated through the Padres and Giants, only one more foe remains in the “gauntlet” part of the schedule: a four game series with the Padres. And, hold on to your bucket hats, Dodger fans, it looks like we might see an inning or two out of Shohei Ohtani in the series. In fact, he’ll be pitching on Monday (yes, THIS MONDAY!), facing off against Dylan Cease, who gave the Dodgers fits down in San Diego. It’s probably going to be an opener kind of deal, so don’t get too worked up. Ben Casparius will likely do the bulk work in the game. Nevertheless, it’s a moment Dodger fans have been waiting for a long time. Let’s do this! Ganbaroo! (As they say in Japan)
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