Andy Pages comes through vs. Mason Miller to key Dodgers’ win
SAN DIEGO — The first pitch Mason Miller he threw after the errant pickoff throw that put the profitable run on third base was a fastball clocked at 100.8 mph. Los Angeles Dodgers heart fielder Andy Pages fouled it off, falling behind within the depend 0-2 in Tuesday’s ninth inning, however he was assured.
“I never thought he was going to strike me out or dominate me,” Pages mentioned in Spanish. “I was 100% certain I was going to move the ball forward.”
Miller, the San Diego Padres nearer who has been virtually unhittable this season, proceeded to assault with 101 mph fastballs and knee-buckling sliders, and Pages both fouled them off or took them for balls. On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, he drove a 101.5 mph fastball simply far sufficient for pinch runner Alex Call to barely beat the relay throw residence on a sacrifice fly, sending the Dodgers to an exciting 5-4 victory at Petco Park.
Freddie Freemanwho homered twice, referred to as it “one of the greatest at-bats I’ve ever seen in person, and I’ve been playing a long time.”
Miller entered with a 0.82 ERA and major-league-leading 15 saves, the final one coming in a 1-0 Padres victory Monday that noticed him get well after two leadoff walks. Of the 84 batters he had confronted, 45 had struck out. Of the 50 fastballs at 101 mph he had thrown for strikes, zero had been put in play and solely 17 had been fouled off. Pages fouled off two such pitches himself, then lifted the opposite for the profitable RBI — 24 hours after grounding out in opposition to Miller to finish Monday’s sport.
“To me, he’s simply a pitcher who throws hard,” Pages mentioned. “He’s a good pitcher, but to me, he’s simply a pitcher who throws hard, and if you’re able to get on time against him, you can do damage against him.”
The Dodgers entered this three-game collection in opposition to their bitter rivals with a half-game lead within the National League West, and through the primary two nights, nothing has modified.
Michael King and Yoshinobu Yamamoto navigated a basic pitchers’ duel in Monday’s opener, with Miguel Andujar‘s first-inning solo homer offering the one run. On Tuesday, Freeman and Manny Machado every snapped comparatively lengthy homerless droughts to make it a 2-2 sport after the primary inning. After Andujar adopted with a two-run homer within the third, the Dodgers received a run-scoring groundout from Shohei Ohtani within the fifth and a tying solo homer from Freeman within the sixth.
Three innings later, with one out within the high of the ninth, Max Muncy challenged a full-count slider that was referred to as a strike and received it overturned for a stroll. Call got here in to pinch run and tried to steal second base, hoping to benefit from a pitcher who hardly ever makes an attempt pickoffs. Call broke too early and received caught in between, however Miller’s throw sailed into proper discipline, permitting Call to advance to third base.
“I just let it speed up on me a little bit and yanked it,” Miller mentioned. “I probably threw it a little harder than I should’ve, too.”
The Padres have been one of many NL’s finest groups this season, retaining tempo with the star-studded Dodgers, regardless of a patchwork rotation and minimal offensive manufacturing from Machado, Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis Jr.the latter of whom stays homerless. They’ve accomplished so largely due to their dominant bullpen, highlighted by the sport’s finest nearer.
In their first two encounters, although, the Dodgers have made Miller sweat.
“He’s great, and no one’s gotten him,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “We feel good about our guys, and still, the game plan is to keep him out of the game. That’s still the plan. But I felt that in two nights against him, we put together some good at-bats to stress him a little bit.”
