There’s no kind or gentle way to say it. Andy Pages has to go.
On Saturday, it was a ground ball single up the middle in the top of the eighth inning by Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang that the 24-year-old Dodgers outfielder booted, putting runners at first and third with two outs. Fortunately, neither scored on what was ruled a base hit and an error. Unfortunately, the Dodgers lost 8-7.
On Sunday, it was a routine fly ball off the bat of Brewers shortstop Joey Ortiz in the top of the fourth inning that the La Habana, Cuba native booted, allowing the Brewers to tie the game at 3-3 instead of ending the inning in Milwaukee’s eventual 6-5 win and three-game sweep of the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.
(SportsNet LA)
Dodgers third baseman Tommy Edman and right fielder Teoscar Hernández also committed errors on Sunday, the combination of which prevented Dodgers ace and future first-ballot Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw from recording what should have been his fifth win of the season (with one loss) instead of a no-decision.
“I think that the defense, the plays that I’ve seen, I think are lack of focus, that’s what I feel,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of his team’s three errors on Sunday and overall shoddy play of late. “The fly ball, the grounder, those things just can’t happen, and recently, we’re seeing that more and more. Like I said, that shouldn’t happen with our club,” he added.
Roberts pulled Kershaw after his stellar 4.1-inning start, during which he allowed three runs (one earned) on five hits, while striking out two and walking one, doing so on 81 pitches of which 49 were strikes.
To his credit, Pages made an outstanding catch for the first out of the top of the fifth inning off the bat of Brewers right fielder Jackson Chourio, after which he crashed (hard) into the wall in left-center field and somehow managed to hang on to the ball.
Also to his credit, Pages lined a double down the left field line to lead off the bottom of the third inning and advanced to third on a 5-3 ground out by Dodgers left fielder Esteury Ruiz. He then scored on a sacrafice fly to right by Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead.
The Dodgers added two more in the bottom of the frame after a two-out single to center by Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts, which was followed by a 378-foot home run to right by international superstar Shohei Ohtani to give the Dodgers a then 3-0 lead. They picked up another run on a solo home run to center by Ruiz in the bottom of the fifth and another on a missed catch error by Brewers first baseman Andrew Vaughn in the bottom of the ninth, but ended the game with the tying and winning runs stranded on second and third.
“Just gotta play better in all facets. I can’t speak for everyone, I just know for me, I gotta play better,” Betts told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson postgame.
With this weekend’s sweep by the Brewers, the Dodgers lead in the NL West is now a less-than-comfortable 3.5 games over the second-place San Diego Padres. The (slightly) better news is that the San Francisco Giants were swept by the Blue Jays in Toronto this weekend to remain 6.0 games back of their fiercest division rivals, so there’s that.
Play Ball!
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