LOS ANGELES — This time around, there was no playoff seeding at stake, no MVP race to decide and no argument to settle about who is the National League’s best team as October approached.
This time, the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves met as a pair of mega-talented teams still trying to find their way in the early portion of the season and they proved to be at similar places on the journey.
In the first meeting of NL powers, it was the Dodgers who got the jump on the season series with a 4-3 victory Friday night as Andy Pages delivered a walk-off RBI single in the 11th inning. The rookie finished his first four-hit game in style.
“It’s very special to me,” Pages said through an interpreter about getting singles in each of his final four at-bats. “We know how good Atlanta is. I was just happy we got the win.”
The early anticipation for this Dodgers-Braves matchup was a far cry from the last time the teams dueled at Dodger Stadium late last season. Yet it ended up similar in many ways when the atmosphere increased as the hour grew late.
A year ago, Ronald Acuña Jr. got the jump on the Dodgers in the showdown series with an early grand slam and made a statement in an Atlanta series win that lasted through MVP voting when he was named the NL’s top player.
On Friday, it was Acuña’s home run in the eighth inning that tied the score at 2-2 and ultimately forced extra innings. Acuña entered with just one home run, although he was still in a three-way tie for most runs scored in the major leagues with 29. The Dodgers’ Mookie Betts was among the trio.
“Especially (facing) that team, the Braves … we have to play a perfect game for us to be able to get the win,” said Teoscar Hernandez, who hit a home run as the Dodgers won for the eighth time in 10 games. “But it was really important. We’re paying really good baseball right now and trying to stay focused on things we need to do and just try to keep the streak going.”
With a month left in the 2023…
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