LOS ANGELES — Upon leaving San Diego this past weekend, the Dodgers felt like they took care of business against the Padres over the course of the season. Down the stretch, it’s all about attacking the rest of the schedule in order to stay on top of the NL West.
Monday night was a good start.
With a dominant performance on both sides of the ball, plus some stellar defensive plays in the outfield and from shortstop Mookie Betts, the Dodgers were firing on all cylinders in a way they hadn’t in quite some time.
“The way [Sheehan] was tonight, just attacking these guys,” manager Dave Roberts said. “His stuff was really, really good tonight. … I thought the defense was just engaged, every single guy out there. I thought the offensive at-bats, one through nine, were great. It’s probably one of the better games, complete games, that we’ve played in months, for me.”
Pages opened the scoring in the third inning by taking Hunter Greene deep to left field for a solo shot. Two innings later, this time with Michael Conforto on second, Pages left the yard again. It was the second multihomer game of his career, with the first coming on June 17 of this year.
Prior to Monday, Pages had faced Greene once last season. He homered off the Reds’ right-hander in that matchup as well.
“He’s a very good pitcher. He has an excellent fastball, plus-plus fastball,” Pages said through interpreter Juan Dorado. “But we know with guys like him, we have to take advantage of those mistakes. And when he made those mistakes today, I feel like I took advantage of them.”
Another two runs came into score with Pages at the plate in the sixth, when he reached on a fielding error by shortstop Elly De La Cruz in a two-out, bases-loaded situation. Pages added on one last time with a sacrifice fly in the eighth, giving him a career-high-tying four RBIs on the night.
“What a performance by Andy,” Roberts said. “Hunter is one of the better pitchers in baseball, and certainly the National League, and it’s high-octane stuff. … Even that last at-bat against [Connor] Phillips, I thought he had a great at-bat, almost missed his third homer. It’s just really good to see that at-bat that quality from Andy, and we needed it.”
Sheehan was sterling on the mound, completing seven innings for the first time as a big leaguer. He matched his career high with 10 strikeouts and came one away from his personal high-water mark in whiffs with a season-high 19.
Ten of those swing-and-misses came on Sheehan’s slider. It marked the second straight start where he generated double-digit whiffs on the offering. He feels that he’s starting to see results from the work he’s put in to more consistently execute his pitches.
“I think I’ve had to learn more about the sequencing side this year, just from the stuff not being where I want it to be,” Sheehan said. “So having that combined with having a good stuff day today — it was a good combination.”
Sheehan scattered two hits and a walk, with only one additional Reds hitter reaching on an errant throw from third baseman Alex Freeland.
“He had really good, not just velocity, but crispness to his fastball and the offspeed with it,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “I just thought he was on his A-game tonight.”
Other than the error, the Dodgers’ defense was another bright spot, with Conforto and Teoscar Hernández making highlight-reel plays early to keep the Reds off the basepaths.
In sum, it was the type of all-around baseball that L.A. needs to play down the stretch to extend its lead in the NL West. Roberts has preached a team-first mentality in recent days, and the Dodgers have embraced it as the stakes continue to rise.
“I think everybody has bought into that at this point,” Conforto said. “In Dave’s words, we’re in a sprint right now. We’re in a race for the division, and it’s all about being the first-place team at the end of this and just winning games, winning every game we can.”
