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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ series against the Texas Rangers has many narratives. The first is Corey Seager’s return to the Dodger Stadium years after leaving for the Rangers. Next is the competition between the defending champions with the team many peg as favorites for the World Series. However, last night gave another narrative to this series, courtesy of Andy Pages missed stop sign.

The Dodgers were trailing by 1 run when they got a great opportunity to equalize the score. For a moment the team could’ve had 2 bases filled. But then Andy Pages had something else in his mind. The moment he saw the fielder miscue the ball, he immediately ran towards the home plate. However, the Dodgers’ third base coach pulled up a stop sign after seeing that the Rangers had recovered quickly. But Pages didn’t take heed and ran but couldn’t complete his run. 

That ended the game and the Dodgers lost 3-2 to the Texas Rangers. For Pages, this was an embarrassing moment and fans called him out for his “selfish” play. While a few called it a rookie mistake, the reaction was decidedly mixed for the young player. During his postgame interview, Pages tried to answer those questions by explaining how he made a mistake and didn’t see the 3B coach.

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“From the first moment, I knew I would get to third. But as soon as I saw the center fielder misplay it a little bit, I just thought about scoring that tying run, Pages said in Spanish (via MLB.com). “You learn from those things. Unfortunately, those things have to happen for you to get better.” Though Pages’ interpreter made it difficult to fully understand what he said, the star did reveal that he didn’t see Dino’s (coach’s) stop sign.” 

While that may not satisfy fans, for Pages too this is a problematic situation. This is slowly turning into a pattern that he may want to break free from soon.

Andy Pages faces difficulty on bases but the Dodgers remain hopeful

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Last weekend Andy Pages made another base-running mistake against the New York Yankees. And now with this mistake, it looks like the adrenaline rush is proving to be a bit too much to handle for the young rookie. However, despite being a little raw in his methods, Pages has instilled a lot of confidence within the Los Angeles Dodgers clubhouse. That was visible by Dave Roberts’ comments later on.

“It’s one of those things; you have a young player who doesn’t have a lot of experience, and you run him out there and that’s how they learn,” Roberts said. “But it still took a perfect throw and an executed relay, and they made a great play.” Certainly, Roberts is right. Despite a little too aggressive approach by Pages, he was within microseconds away from tying the game for the Dodgers. Perhaps as he tames his aggressiveness a little, Pages will understand how to differentiate between risky situations and a safe path to home.