Steve Webb
Game 28, 4/27/2025: Dodgers 9, Pirates 2
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Patience, they say, is a virtue. How many of us fans had Andy Pages on the first bus to Oklahoma City after his slow start? Well, you couldn’t exactly blame us. He was looking lost at the plate over the first handful of games. But that is the old Andy, ladies and gentlemen. The new, improved Andy Pages is en fuego, turning into a one-man pirate-hunter this weekend. Having perhaps his best day in the big leagues, Pages destroyed the Bucs, leading the Dodgers to a comfortable 9-2 win.
Things, however, started a lot roughter than they ended. LA starter Tyler Glasnow took the mound looking for a zero, but his former squad struck in the top of the first. After a leadoff walk and a double-play ball, Glasnow got taken deep by Andrew McCutchen, and then again by Enmanuel Valdez, putting the Dodgers in a two-run hole before they even hit the bat rack.
However, the Dodgers set up shop quickly in the bottom of the frame against Pittsburgh starter Bailey Falter. Shohei Ohtani worked a walk to lead off , followed up by a single from Mookie Betts to put two on with nobody out. Teoscar Hernandez ripped a screamer down the third base line, but was thrown out on a nice play. That put two ducks on the pond for Freddie Freeman. And Freeman came through, ripping a single to the right side to score both runners. And just like that, the Pirates’ advantage was erased.
Tommy Edman then hit a ball down the third base line as well, but third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes couldn’t come up it, and Freeman was able to scamper all the way home from first, giving the Dodgers a 3-2 lead. By the end of the play, Edman was hugging third and the Dodgers were eager for more. This time the resurgent Andy Pages was the hero, ripping a single to left to give the Dodgers another run. Max Muncy hit into a double play to end the inning, but a very fruitful first to open the game.
However, the momentum came to a screeching halt in the top of the second. After a few warm-up tosses, Tyler Glasnow called on the training staff (yes, again) and came out of the game (yes, again). The diagnosis this time was “shoulder discomfort.” We’ll see how serious it is. But after a great opening start, Glasnow has been beset by medical issues. So far, the lanky righty has only managed to pitch 18 innings over five starts. Which is… not great.
It would be up to the bullpen to cover the next eight innings. Not ideal in the middle of six games in a row. It was Ben Casparius who was tasked with taking down a pile of innings as first out of the pen.
Casparius sent the Bucs down in order in the second and the Dodgers put up another run in the bottom of the inning. Kiké Hernandez led off with a walk. He moved to third on an Ohtani double to right field, and then scored on a sacrifice fly from Mookie Betts.
Now pitching with a three-run cushion, Casparius continued to attack. He pitched a 1-2-3 third, a scoreless fourth, and then recorded two outs in the fifth before surrendering a single to Isaiah Kiner-Falefa and giving way to Alex Vesia. Kiner-Falefa stole second, putting a runner in scoring position for O’neil Cruz. But Vesia got the strikeout keeping Casparius with a clean record for the day. Casparius’s total for Sunday: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. Muchas gracias, Ben!
The Boys in Blue padded their lead in the home half of the sixth when Teoscar Hernandez led off with his eighth home run of the season. He took a 2-1 pitch from Falter and just cleared the centerfield fence to put the Dodgers up 6-2. Then, after Freddie Freeman singled and Tommy Edman struck out, Andy Pages continued his tear with a two-run jack to more or less the same place as Teoscar went deep earlier in the inning. The Dodgers were pouring it on. It was 8-2.
But the Dodgers weren’t done. A two-out single from (you guessed it) Andy Pages plated another run, giving the outfielder his fourth RBI on the day, a career high. Over this weekend series, Pages collected ten hits in three games, raising his average from .183 on Thursday to over .270 by the end of the day on Sunday. Not too shabby.
New Dodgers reliever Yoendrys Garcia finished out the game, throwing three innings of scoreless ball to get one of those elusive three-inning saves. Welcome to the Ravine!
Other than the Paul Skenes game, the Dodgers offense seems to be clicking, though not quite firing on all cylinders quite yet. Another punching bag, the Marlins, will come into town on Monday as the Dodgers look to bank some wins before heading into more challenges in the schedule. Monday will be the return of Dustin May, who is certainly eager to get back on track after getting knocked around a bit in Chicago. Game time, 7:10 PDT.
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