If

If 24-year-old Dodgers left fielder Andy Pages makes this catch of a foul ball off the bat of Cincinnati Reds first baseman Spencer Steer instead of having it bounce off his glove for a two-run error, do the National League West first-place Los Angeles Dodgers win Wednesday’s game against the National League Central third-place Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park instead of losing it by a score of 5-2?

“Yeah, umm, you know, Andy’s done a great job for us and it’s just a play that…that I know he wishes he had back and we didn’t make,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters postgame. “And unfortunately, you know, the at-bat didn’t finish, and, uh, Steer had another chance, and that’s just kinda… that’s baseball right there, but, you know, Andy’s done a good job,” Roberts added.

If 25-year-old Dodgers right-hander Emmet Sheehan doesn’t groove this 95.5-mph four-seam fastball “right down Broadway” (as Dodgers broadcaster Rick Monday called it) to Steer on the 11th pitch of that same at-bat, do the Dodgers win the game instead of losing it?

“For me, I thought Emmet pitched really well tonight,” Roberts said of the New York, NY native, this despite the Dodgers sixth-round draft pick in 2021 out of Boston College having allowed three runs on one hit with five strikeouts and three walks, doing so on 72 pitches (42 strikes) in his 3.2 innings of relief.

On the bright side, 23-year-old Dodgers rookie third baseman Alex Freeland, who was called up from Triple-A OKC just prior to Wednesday’s game, collected his first Major League hit, a two-out single to left in the top of the fifth, so there’s that.

With Wednesday’s loss, the Dodgers lead in the NL West is back down to 3.0 games over the second-place San Diego Padres, who have won six in a row, and 9.0 games over the third-place San Francisco Giants, who have lost six in a row, so there’s that, too.

Fire away.

Play Ball!

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