Good thinks happen when you let the kids play.

In his second start of the season on Wednesday afternoon against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park, 26-year-old Dodgers right-hander Landon Knack allowed two runs on two hits, while walking three and striking out five in the Dodgers 11-2 win to earn his first Major League win.

“I think that what we’re learning from Landon is that he’s able to reset, you know, compose himself, not let the game get out of control which, a lot of times, that’s what happens with young pitchers,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Knack postgame. “And today, early on, I thought he didn’t have his breaking ball, it just wasn’t sharp, the change-up was good then it wasn’t, fastball command in and out. But, you know, those last three, four innings, last three innings were really really very efficient. The breaking ball had teeth, and it was huge for him to get through the sixth inning for us.”

As Dodgers fans painfully recall, the Johnson City, TN native and Dodgers second round draft pick in 2020 out of East Tennessee State University in Johnson City struggled mightily in his first start of the season on April 17 against the Nationals at Dodger Stadium, allowing two runs on four hits in the eventual 2-0 Dodgers loss. Things looked bad again in the bottom of the second inning on Wednesday when Knack again allowed two runs, one on a leadoff home run, followed by a walk, a hit batsman, and two more walks, turning the Dodgers 3-0 lead into a 3-2 game.

But then the real Landon Knack showed up.

Over the next four innings, Knack allowed no additional runs, hits, or walks, while striking out three, to give him five strikeouts on the day, including striking out always dangerous Nationals right fielder Joey Gallo three times.

Knack finished his day allowing just those two runs, five hits, and three walks, with those five Ks, doing so on 94 pitches, of which 59 were strikes, en route to the Dodgers eventual 11-2 pounding of the Nats.

And then there’s that other kid, 23-year-old outfielder Andy Pages, who went 3-for-4 on the day, finishing a triple shy of the cycle and scoring three of those 11 Dodgers runs while driving in one – himself on his second home run in his last three games.

“Pages, fly ball, deep left field. This is a rain-maker and his second Major League home run!” an excited Dodgers broadcaster Stephen Nelson said of Pages’ eighth-inning 375-foot solo blast to left to make it 7-2 good guys.

Let the kids play!

Play Ball!

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