Los Angeles Dodgers design hitter Shohei Ohtani hits a solo home run against the Texas Rangers during the first inning of a baseball game on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, in Los Angeles.
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 beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 Wednesday night when Andy Pages ran through a stop sign and was threw out 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 win tied him with late New York Yankees manager Joe McCarthy for ninth place on the regular season career list season.
“What an incredible career he has had and what championships he has 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 problem, including the series opener. The 30-year-old short stop went 1 for 3 with a strikeout. He was the 2016 NL Rookie of the Year and 2020 NL and World Series MVP with the Dodgers, before leaving as a free agent after the 2021 season.
“It’s good to have Corey back. We have seen what he means to us,” Bochy said. “We missed him.”
Shohei Ohtani put the Dodgers ahead in the first inning with his 17th homer, a 400-foot drive.
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani watches his solo home run against the Texas Rangers during the first inning of a baseball game on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, in Los Angeles.
Will Smith singled in the ninth inning against 37-year-old Kirby Yates and Pages walked with two outs.
Jason Heyward doubled to center to score Smith, but rookie Pages ran through coach Dino Ebel’s stop sign at third base and was tagged out at the plate by Jonah Heim.
“I didn’t see the stop sign. I saw the midfielder bobbing the ball and I just kept going,” Pages said through an interpreter. “I was going to try to score anyway, because I knew I was the equalizer.”
The catcher took second baseman Marcus Semien’s relay throw from center fielder Leody Taveras and tagged the sliding Pages to the left side. A video review confirmed plate umpire Marvin Hudson’s call.
“Just a big play by a big player for probably most of the game,” Seager said of Semien’s throw. “It’s something we always count on him to get through in those moments and he did.”
Seager hit a 400-foot homer in the fifth off Buehler (1-4) after Tavares singled to steal 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 at us,” Seager said. “He’s smart, man. It was a fun battle all evening.”
Seager drew applause in his first at-bat, but was 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’s reaction. “I don’t blame them.”
Jacob Latz (2-1) threw two scoreless innings in relief of Jon Gray. Yates earned his ninth save.
“What a job they’ve done,” Bochy said.
For his Hall of Fame father Craig Biggio, the younger Biggio singled in the fifth inning for his first hit with the Dodgers. Biggio was designated for assignment by Toronto last week and was acquired in a trade on Wednesday.
He started at third base and showed his glove work early. Biggio started a double play that accounted for the first two outs of the first inning. He prevented a possible double down the line from Wyatt Langford in the second inning, making a long throw to first base that Langford narrowly beat. Biggio was charged with a foul in the fifth when he bobbled a ball from Semien.
