Shohei Ohtani Hits a Solo Home Run in the First with His 17th Homer, a 424-foot Drive; Rangers Beat Dodgers 3-2

AP

17:01 JST, June 13, 2024

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Corey Seager hit a go-ahead, three-run homer off Walker Buehler in his return to Dodger Stadium and the Texas Rangers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 on Wednesday night when Andy Pages ran through a stop sign and was thrown out at the plate for the final out.

“That’s just a beautiful play with the game on the line,” said Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, whose 2,125th victory moved him into a tie with the late New York Yankees manager Joe McCarthy for ninth on the regular-season career list.

“What an incredible career he had and the championships he won,” Bochy said. “It’s just humbling to be in this class.”

Seager was back in the lineup as designated hitter against his old team after missing four games with a hamstring issue, including the series opener. The 30-year-old shortstop went 1 for 3 with a strikeout. He was 2016 NL Rookie of the Year and 2020 NL and World Series MVP with the Dodgers, then left as a free agent after the 2021 season.

“It’s good to have Corey back. We saw what he means to us,” Bochy said. “We missed him.”

Shohei Ohtani put the Dodgers ahead in the first with his 17th homer, a 424-foot drive.

Will Smith singled leading off the ninth against 37-year-old Kirby Yates and Pages walked with two outs.

Jason Heyward doubled to center, scoring Smith, but rookie Pages ran through the stop sign of third-base coach Dino Ebel and was tagged out at the plate by Jonah Heim.

“I didn’t see the stop sign. I saw the center fielder bobble the ball and I just kept going,” Pages said through a translator. “I was going to try to score no matter what because I knew I was the tying run.”

The catcher took second baseman Marcus Semien’s relay throw from center fielder Leody Taveras and tagged the sliding Pages on the left side. A video review upheld the call of plate umpire Marvin Hudson.

“Just a big-time play by a big-time player in probably the biggest part of the game,” Seager said of Semien’s throw. “It’s something that we always count on him to come through in those moments and he did.”

Seager hit a 422-foot homer in the fifth off Buehler (1-4) after Tavares singled and stole second and Semien reached on a fielding error by new Dodgers third baseman Cavan Biggio.

“He mixed speeds, he mixed locations, he threw a bunch of different heaters against us,” Seager said. “He’s smart, man. It was a fun battle all night.”

Seager was applauded in his first at-bat, but got booed when he came up in the seventh before striking out.

“It kind of comes with the territory, I get it,” Seager said of the crowd reaction. “I don’t blame them.”

Jacob Latz (2-1) pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Jon Gray. Yates earned his ninth save.

“What a job they did,” Bochy said.

In front of his Hall of Fame father Craig Biggio, the younger Biggio singled leading off the fifth for his first hit with the Dodgers. Biggio was designated for assignment by Toronto last week and was acquired Wednesday in a trade.

He started at third base and showed his glove work early. Biggio started a double play that got the first two outs of the first inning. He prevented a potential double down the line by Wyatt Langford in the second, making a long throw to first that Langford barely beat out. Biggio was charged with an error in the fifth when he bobbled a ball hit by Semien.