Pages’ Seventh-Inning Single Sends Dodgers Past Atlanta

Andy Pages supplied the hit that finally separated the Dodgers from Atlanta. With Game 4 of the National League Division Series tied in the seventh inning, Pages singled to center, scoring Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman. Los Angeles moved ahead 3–1, and a bullpen that had already begun covering for Tyler Glasnow made the lead last.

Max Muncy added a solo home run in the ninth. The Dodgers finished a 4–1 victory on October 7, winning the best-of-five series 3–1 and ending the Braves' season. Los Angeles advanced through a clincher in which it collected only five hits, but converted the most consequential late opportunity while holding Atlanta to three.

The difference was not uninterrupted control by the starting pitcher. Glasnow allowed one hit in 4⅔ innings, yet walked five. The Braves repeatedly had a route onto the bases without needing to solve him through contact. Los Angeles survived those opportunities, then received 4⅓ scoreless innings from four relievers.

For Atlanta, the result made an effective start by Tyler Mahle insufficient. He worked 6⅓ innings, allowing two runs, only one earned, on three hits and one walk. The Braves had kept the Dodgers' offense contained for much of the game. They did not produce enough offense themselves to make that work stand up once Pages delivered his two-run single.

An early run without an RBI

Atlanta scored first in the opening inning when Michael Harris II came home on Glasnow's wild pitch during Ozzie Albies' plate appearance. Albies subsequently grounded out. The Braves had gained a run without a run-scoring hit, taking advantage of the starter's mistake before Los Angeles' bullpen later removed that route to scoring.

Los Angeles tied the game in the second when Muncy reached on shortstop Mauricio Dubón's fielding error, allowing Shohei Ohtani to score. The Dodgers had not yet generated an earned run, but the error removed Atlanta's advantage and brought the teams level at 1–1.

The next four full innings produced no further scoring. Both teams had reasons to believe a single successful attack could decide the result. Mahle was restricting Los Angeles' hits, while Glasnow's walks were giving Atlanta opportunities that the Braves could not complete.

Glasnow struck out five and threw 78 pitches. Allowing one hit would ordinarily suggest a largely untroubled outing, but his five walks changed the workload and the risk attached to it. He was removed with two outs in the fifth, leaving the Dodgers needing more than four innings from the bullpen to finish a potential clinching game.

Atlanta's limited contact

Harris finished with two of the Braves' three hits, including a double, and also drew a walk. Albies had the remaining hit, another double. The rest of Atlanta's lineup did not record a hit, despite the team's five walks and the opportunities those baserunners created.

Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley and Dubón were among the Braves who drew walks. Those plate appearances kept Atlanta from being completely shut out of the game, but they did not generate the hit needed to score another runner. The difference between reaching base and completing a scoring sequence was central to the defeat.

The Braves finished with eight strikeouts. They were not retired exclusively through swings and misses, yet their offense never developed a second scoring inning. Los Angeles had to manage the walks, but Atlanta still needed a ball in play to turn those free passes into a lead.

Pages changes the score

The Dodgers' seventh-inning opportunity reached Pages with Hernández and Edman positioned to score. His single sent both home, giving Los Angeles its first lead and changing the final innings from a tied-game pitching contest into Atlanta's last attempt to keep its season active.

Pages finished 2 for 3 with two RBIs, collecting two of the Dodgers' five hits. Kyle Tucker and Hernández added singles. Muncy's ninth-inning homer supplied the remaining hit and the final run.

The distribution is important because several prominent Dodgers hitters went without hits. Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith all finished hitless. Los Angeles did not require its entire lineup to produce a large offensive game. It needed a run created by Atlanta's error, Pages' two-run hit and Muncy's insurance homer.

That is a narrow scoring formula, but it was enough against an opponent that remained on one run. Pages' single provided the lead; the bullpen prevented Atlanta from finding the equivalent response.

Four relievers complete the game

Alex Vesia, Edgardo Henriquez, Tanner Scott and Edwin Díaz covered the outs after Glasnow's departure without allowing a run. Vesia worked two-thirds of an inning, Henriquez 1⅔, Scott one and Díaz one. Together, those four pitchers account for the full 4⅓ innings that remained.

The Dodgers' bullpen allowed two hits and no walks. Scott struck out two, and Díaz struck out one. The absence of additional walks changed the way Atlanta had to build its offense after Glasnow left: the Braves could no longer rely on free baserunners to create their chances.

Atlanta used Didier Fuentes, Robert Suarez, Dylan Lee and Raisel Iglesias after Mahle. Fuentes allowed a run while recording one out and walking two, and Iglesias gave up Muncy's homer. The late difference was therefore not merely which bullpen worked more innings. Los Angeles' relief group prevented scoring, while Atlanta's allowed the runs that resolved the tie and expanded the deficit.

A finished series, and Milwaukee next

The victory ends the division series after four games. Los Angeles won the opener, lost Game 2 and then took Games 3 and 4 in Atlanta. The Dodgers advance to the National League Championship Series against Milwaukee, which completed its own 3–1 division-series victory over San Diego on October 7.

That is the correct limit of the story as of its assigned editorial date. Advancing from the division series does not establish a later pennant result. What the clincher established was that Los Angeles could win with modest offensive volume, survive a starter's control problems and convert one late two-run opportunity into a series-ending lead.

Pages supplied the separation Atlanta could not match. Muncy made the last inning less forgiving for the Braves. The relievers ensured the Dodgers did not have to score again.