LOS ANGELES — This time around, there was no playoff seeding at stake, no MVP race to decide and no argument to settle about who is the National League’s best team as October approached.
This time, the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves met as a pair of mega-talented teams still trying to find their way in the early season and they proved to be at similar places on the journey.
In the first meeting of NL powers, it was the Dodgers who got the jump on the season series with a 4-3 victory Friday night as Andy Pages delivered a walk-off RBI single in the 11th inning. The rookie finished his first four-hit game in style.
The anticipation for this Dodgers-Braves matchup was a far cry from the last time the teams dueled at Dodger Stadium late last season. Yet it ended up similar in many ways as the atmosphere only increased as the hour grew late.
A year ago, Ronald Acuña Jr. got the jump on the Dodgers with an early grand slam and made a statement in an Atlanta series win that lasted through MVP voting when he was named the NL’s top player.
On Friday, it was Acuña’s home run in the eighth inning that tied the score at 2-2 and ultimately forced extra innings. Acuña entered with just one home run, although he was still in a three-way tie for most runs scored in the major leagues with 29. The Dodgers’ Mookie Betts was among the trio.
With a month left in the 2023 regular season, the Braves won three of the four games against the Dodgers in what felt like a National League Championship preview, only to have both teams collapse in the NL Division Series.
Acuña had his home run, although fellow star Matt Olson continued his early-season slumber by going 0 for 4.
The Dodgers have their stars too, although Betts and former Brave Freddie Freeman were relatively quiet with one hit between them. On Friday, the team’s rock was Gavin Stone, who gave up one run on five hits over six innings with a walk and five strikeouts. The bullpen gave up one earned run on one hit the rest of the way.
The Braves scored in the 10th inning on a sacrifice fly from Orlando Arcia, but Shohei Ohtani wiped out that run with an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th to extend the game.
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Michael Grove (1-1) earned the win with a scoreless 11th inning. Pages’ game-winning bloop hit to center field came off veteran right-hander Jesse Chavez, who he battled to a full count in an at-bat that lasted eight pitches.
Will Smith continued his production with an early RBI single and Teoscar Hernandez hit a fourth-inning home run, to match Shohei Ohtani for top honors on the team with seven. Smith’s 25 RBIs rank second among NL catchers.
At age 40, Braves right-hander Charlie Morton was as effective as ever, giving up two runs on five hits over six innings with two walks and five strikeouts.
The lone run Stone allowed was on a home run by Austin Riley in the first inning. The Braves weren’t heard from again until Acuña went deep against right-hander Daniel Hudson.
More to come on this story.