Friday night’s exciting 4-3 Dodgers win over the (now) National League East second place Atlanta Braves will forever be remembered as ‘The Andy Pages Game.’ Not only did the 23-year-old La Habana, Cuba native continue his torrid hitting by going 4-for-5 in Friday night’s 11-inning contest, he also gave the Dodgers their first walk-off win of 2024 in front of a frenzied Dodger Stadium crowd of 50,859.

“For me, he’s stabilized our lineup,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Pages postgame. “He’s added length, played very good defensively out there in center field and right field, and just the at-bat quality. He’s seeing a lot of pitches, he’s swinging at strikes, he knows how to get a hit, is driving in runs. And that’s what he’s done. He stabilized our entire lineup.”

Therein lies the key of Friday night’s exciting Dodgers win – “…the at-bat quality.”

Pages saw a remarkable seven pitches from 40-year-old/17-year MLB veteran Braves left-hander (and former Dodger) Jesse Chavez before looping the eighth one into center field with one out in the bottom of the 11th to score Dodgers catcher Will Smith from third base for his first career walk-off hit.

“In those moments, I’m obviously not trying to get too anxious,” Pages told reporters postgame through an interpreter. “I’ve had experiences where I got a little bit out of character, but try to kind of be composed and do my job.

“Pitch by pitch your confidence grows and grows,” Pages added. “You get more experience by facing these pitchers, you get more chances with these at-bats.”

“Watching him play, watching him develop these last couple weeks up here, he’s a great guy,” said Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hernández, who homered in the bottom of the third inning to give the Dodgers a then 2-1 lead. “He’s always trying to get better. Today he showed that he’s made for the big moments. He’s not afraid to go out there and have success.”

Well done again, young man.

Play Ball!

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